tihvary of t:he t:heolo0ical ^tminary PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY The author SS2775 .J9S IT ur .% AUG 8 1956 COMMENTARY UPON THE Epistle to the Hebrews. BY GEOEGE JUNKIN, D.D., LL.D. PHILADELPHIA : SMITH, ENGLISH & CO., No. 710 Arch Street, NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROS, 1873. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by GEORGE JUNKIN, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Westcott 4 TnoMsoN, Sherman & Co., Slereolj/pers ami Klcctrulitp^rs, PItitada. IVinkrs, Philada. PREFACE. The following Commentary was at once the last literary labor of its author, and a life-work. His last work, in that he recast his notes upon the Epistle into the shape in which they are now given to the public, during the two years which preceded his death.* During these years he was engaged in arduous labors, connected with the Sabbath controversy, the temperance reformation, and other public duties : and it might justly awaken surprise, that in this short time he could find leisure to begin and complete a work of such exhaustive research, and close and profound study. It is therefore right to state, that the Epistle to the Hebrews had specially engaged the attention of Dr. Junkin from the time of his prepara- tion for the ministry : that during his pastorate of eleven years, and in the colleges over which he presided, he had lectured upon this Epistle. His great teacher, the peerless Mason, taught him to love this portion of holy Scripture with a peculiar affection, and beginning his studies of it * A note in his own writing on the first page of the manuscript, reads, " begun Nov. 1, 1865," another on the last page reads, " fin- ished Aug. 30, 1867." 3 4 PREFACE. under the Prince of American expositors, he continued them at intervals until very near the close of his life. This Commentary therefore is no hasty production, but the result of long, careful, and enthusiastic study on the part of its author. Alike in his youth, in the fulness of his manhood, and in his later years, the Priesthood of Chrkt, as announced in the Garden, symbolized by the Patriarchal and Mosaic altars and ritual, described by the inspired bards and prophets, accomplished in the person and work of the Son of God, and explained and developed in the exhaustive argument of the Epistle to the Hebre^YS, was more than any other, the theme on which Dr. Juukin de- lighted to expatiate. The writer of this Preface is not the person to charac- terize the work of a near and venerated relative. He may, however, say a few words to explain some peculiarities which the reader will discover in its pages. 1. It was prepared from notes originally used in expound- ing the Epistle from the pulpit. This will account for the fervor of style which here and there has not been elimi- nated, and which to critics may seem better adapted to a popular address than to the pages of a commentary. But, 2. Most readers will not except to this, and it is hoped that even the coldest hermeneutical scholar will be reconciled to it, by the fact that these occasional outbursts are always the result of the evolution and demonstration of some great truth, by the most severe exegesis. Like those of Paul him- self in this Epistle, the hortations of the expositor, are based PREFACE. 6 upon truths fitted to stir the soul, which have been estab- lished by fair and cogent logic, and exhaustive criticism. 3. The hermenexdical characteristics of this book are peculiar. The laws of criticism have been most scrupu- lously obeyed, and their principles applied with the greatest care. "The demonstration of the Spirit," that is, the pro- cess of making the Bible its own interpreter — using the utterances of the Spirit in one place to make plain his utter- ances in other places, is employed by the author with won- derful ability, patience and comprehensiveness. He spares no pains in exhibiting the iisus loquendi of the words and phrases of his text, so as to enable his readers not only to understand the result, but also the process by which it is reached. In this direction there may be an excess of effort. 4. It is the judgment of those who have examined the work in manuscript, that whilst it will command the respect of scholars, it will be eminently useful to those who are not learned in the original languages of the Scriptures, who will find in it a most lucid and satisfactory guide to the un- derstanding of the Epistle it expounds. 5. In this volume there is little hesitating interpretation. The author always gives what he holds to be the true mean- ing of the text, and his reasons ; while he treats differing opinions with deference and respect. 6. This exposition, it is believed, will be found to be " multum in parvo." The Epistle to the Hebrews, as no other part of Scripture, presents the whole scheme of salva- tion in its relations to both the old and new dispensations, 1* 6 PREFACE. In his exposition of it, Dr. Juukin finds full scope for the ex- ercise of his great powers of analysis and synthesis, in unfold- ing the mediatorial work of the Incarnate God, as brought to view in the entire Bible. This makes the book rich, not only as an explanation of the particular Epistle, but of many other Scriptures which bear upon its grand themes. It is proper to say, that the manuscript was completed by the author and ready for the press, and it was his expecta- tion himself to revise the proof. This expectation was defeated by his death. The work, therefore, goes before the public without the corrections which he doubtless would have made, but which another editor must shrink from attempting. With these remarks, the volume is submitted to the study of all who care to know what is the mind of the Spirit in the Epistle to the Hebrews, with the prayer, that though dead, the Author shall yet speak through this work to the instruction of many in righteousness. D. X. J. Newcastle, February 22, 1873. INTRODUCTION. "Manna!" exclaimed an Israelite as he stooped down and gathered a handful of small round things — as small as the hoar- frost on the ground ; for when the dew that fell in the night upon the face of the wilderness had gone up, there remained some- thing " like coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium," " and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey." " Manna !" cried another as he approached and stirred with his finger the little globules in his neighbor's palm. " What is it? Where did you get it? Whence came it?" "Look out over the plain," replied he ; " see how it glitters in the slanting rays of the rising sun, far as the eye can reach. It seems to have distilled with the dew-drops of the evening, but it has not risen and departed along with them. Some useful end it doubtless is designed to subserve." " Manna !" interposes a third sojourner of the desert as, rub- bing his eyes, he steps out of his tent-door toward his friends and participates of their excited curiosity, and finds himself almost equally involved in their ignorance and inability to meet the inquiry, " What is it ?" So they called it manna ; and re- calling a rumor to this amount, circulated to some extent in the camp the preceding day, he remarked, "This is the bread of which Moses spake to the elders : ' and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread.'" It came down from heaven, and this bread nourished more than three millions of people in the wil- derness for forty years. " Man did eat angels' food." But how 7 8 INTRODUCTION. prepared ? " And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it." Its design, by God who sent it, is, then, to feed his heritage, and its collection and preparation are by their own industry and care. Similar questions meet us when we take up this ancient writing with the view to its analysis and exposition, and to them, in due order, must we respond, by way of preliminaries to entrance upon the exposition itself. 1. What is it? A writing about Messiah. 2. Whence came it ? The canonical authority. 3. To whom is it sent ? To the Hebrew Christians. 4. In what form ? An epistle. 5. By whom written ? By Paul the apostle. 6. In what language ? Greek. 7. For what grand end ? To dissuade from apostasy and to feed the life of the Church, 8. How to be used as food ? By diligent study. 1. This is a writing concerning the Son of God, considered and viewed as the Messiah. Thus is it announced in the very first sentence : " God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." The humilia- tion, obedience, suffering, death, exaltation and reign of the Lord's Messiah, his prophetic, kingly and priestly offices, are largely discussed. Jesus Christ, God's anointed, the Messiah, is constantly held up to view, " the same yesterday, to-day and for ever ;" and it is through Jesus, IMessiah, that the redeemed are made perfect in every good work, to do the will of God. 2. This writing is canonical — that is, it "is given by inspira- tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor- rection, for instruction in righteousness," and has been received by the Church as part of the divine record. Because it was ad- INTRODUCTION. 9 dressed, as we shall see, to Hebrew Christians, and in the Greek language, it was long recognized and in use in the Eastern Churches before it became known and received by the Roman and more Western Churches as among the sacred books. But in Palestine, Egypt and the East it was univereally accepted. Eusebius, the father of Church history, in his catalogue of the inspired books, reckons among them the fourteen Epistles of Paul, to make which number this must have been counted. Peter, in his Second Epistle, iii. 15, refers to it as Paul's, thus recognizing its authority : " And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation ; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you." Paul was its author, and that by wisdom given unto him by divine inspiration. Its late reception, not rejection, by the Western Churches, is easily accounted for. The extreme difficulty of multiplying copies, when it must be done by the pen and on parchment, made it very expensive, and the Christians then were persecuted and poor. The Latin language was used in the West ; the Jews were not numerous in the West, and yet more numerous than popular. There was very little commerce with Palestine affording facilities of intercommunication, and there was nothing in the literature of the Jews at this time to create a demand at Rome for books relating to Hebrew theology. This tardiness of knowledge and recognition is not surprising, but was to have been expected. Peter, moreover, refers to the depth and difficulty of its theology as resulting from wisdom supernatural ; and this, in fact, constitutes the evidence by which the Epistle forced itself upon the convictions and judgment of the learned and the unlearned, and doth so unto this day. Holy Scripture receives not its evidence and force of truth from human testimony. " The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testi- mony of any man or Church, but wholly upon God (who is truth 10 INTRODUCTION. itself), the author thereof, and therefore it is to be obeyed be- cause it is the word of God." Confession of Faith, i. 4. 3. The manna was sent to the Israelites — the people of God, the Church in the nation, the nation in the Church. They could not imijart it to other nations. It could not be kept, treasured up, packed and labeled for transportation. There Ls no express prohibition of it to strangers ; but its fall being limited to the neighborhood of the camp, and its perishing nature, would seem to restrict its use to Israelites, and strangers might not eat of it vmless they were circumcised and became of Israel — members of the Church and citizens of the commonwealth. In like manner, the Holy Scriptures, and this Epistle especially, are given to the professing Hebrew people. This is assumed and presupposed in it, not asserted or proved. The very first verse implies it. God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. And the whole discussion is about affairs intelligible only by those famil- iar with the Old Testament writings. Peter, moreover, settles this point; for in Second 'Epistle iii. 15, he states that "Paul hath written unto you." To the same whom Peter addressed did Paul write. But in verse 1 he says, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you ;" to the same to whom he wrote the first he writes this second. But the first he addressed ex- pressly "to the strangers (sojourners) scattered throughout Pou- tus, Galatia," etc. The word here rendered "strangers" is the same as translated in Heb. xi, 13 "pilgrims;" and the term "scattered" is the same that occurs in James i. 1, "scattered abroad" — literally, "to the twelve tribes in the dispersion." Hence it is plain that this Epistle was sent to Hebrew Chris- tians. But most naturally would it be sent to the centre of the Church's operations. At Jerusalem was still located the mis- sionary board which superintended the missions of the Church, and the desolations and ruin, to enable them to meet which is INTRODUOTION. 11 one object of this letter, must occur in Palestine and in the city of Jerusalem. We might therefore reasonably expect the prophy- lactic remedy to be applied where the virulence of the disease was to display itself. As the Hebrew Christians of Jerusalem and Judea were doomed to behold the terrible desolations of Zion, the sack of the city, the destruction of the temple, the total ruin and desecration of all that had been grand and imposing in the gorgeous ritual established by Moses, so ought they to be doubly and first fortified against desponding fears and the peril of abandoning all hope in God. These reasonable expectations were duly realized. History confirms them, and in so doing gives a rational response to the question, why this writing was so long neglected or unknown in Rome and the other Western Churches. Whether the title, "The Epistle to the Hebrews," usually found as a caption, was part of the letter itself, or was prefixed by human authority, is matter of doubtful disputation, and of little consequence. 4. The form of the manna is noted — a small, round, white thing, like coriander seed. So the form of this instrument of writing may be noted. Inadvertently or by necessity, it has been already mentioned as an epistle. Like the manna, its form appears at first inspection, whilst its substance remains to be scrutinized before it can be well understood. That it is ad- dressed to persons absent is obvious, and yet the ordinary caption or heading required by the fashion of the times in epis- tolary communications is omitted. All the Epistles, except this and John's first, have the caption — viz., the name and generally the official designation of the author. Our modem practice is to subscribe, and not to superscribe or prefix, them. But the epis- tolary character is made plain at the close, where the compli- ments, in usual form, are delivered, and where it is expressly 12 INTRODUCTION. declared, "I have written a letter to you in few words." This introduces our — 5th preliminary: By whom was it written? The Church has long since decided this by prefixing thereto the name of Paul. The omission of the superscription, and a supposed difference of style from his other Epistles, are the chief objections to recog- nizing Paul as the author. As to the former, we may remark that, of the twenty-one Epistles, this and John's first are the only ones which omit the name. Now, if the omission be proof against Paul's authorship, why not against John's? or why not against Barnabas', or Luke's, or any person's whatever? But as Paul superscribes his name in thirteen Epistles, and good reasons can be shown for his with- holding it in the fourteenth, the omission is proof in his favor. Of these, the chief is because prejudices had arisen against him amongst the Jews, so strong as on one occasion to cause his arrest at Jerusalem, and his subsequent transportation to Rome in chains as a malefactor. However unjust the accusation and unreasonable the prejudice, it is not easy not to see how it might present an obstacle to the candid reception of a discussion bear- ing his name ; whereas this discussion, being argumentative and founded wholly on Old Testament Scripture, would be much more likely to reach the judgment and control the conscience, all preconceived prejudice out of the way, just as an honest jury altogether unacquainted and disconnected with the facts of the case, except as revealed in the evidence, are most likely to ren- der a verdict according to truth. A letter written from Italy, as this was, and especially from Rome, whither Paul had been car- ried in chains because of alleged misconduct at Jerusalem — from Rome, the foe of the Jews, and soon to be the scourge and terror and destruction of the Jewish people — would, of necessity, be received by this people witli jealous caution. But prefix the name of Paul, so hated by many in the devoted city, and hos- INTEODUCTION. 13 tility and bitterness are aroused which go far to shut the eye of reason and bewilder the conscience, and so lead to a foregone conclusion contrary to truth and right. Besides, Paul was, by special eminence, the missionary to the Gentiles. He had been so designated at his conversion, on the way to Damascus, Acts ix. 16; and he had been ordained an evangelist and missionary to the Gentiles by fasting and prayer and the laying on of hands, Acts xiii. 1^. " Why, then, should this man," might the Hebrews in Judea exclaim, "who had been ordained and sent to the ignorant heathen, assume to him- self the ofhce of teaching us out of our own Scriptures ? Let him follow his own calling and execute his own commission, and not presume to enlighten the children of Abraham and the disciples of Moses." , The argument against Paul's authorship, deduced from sup- posed difference of style in this from his other Epistles, is fanci- ful ; matter of taste ; the creature of imagination. On the con- trary, whilst we admit occasional diversity in rhetorical figure, such as the peculiarity of his matter demanded, we insist that the logical methods in this Epistle are most decidedly Paulian. You have the same "sword of the Spirit" as in the others, espe- cially those to the Romans, Galatians and Ephesians. You see the same flash of the Heaven-tempered weapon ; the same unerr- ing direction of every sweep of his claymore ; the same melting away before him of the hostile ranks of foes to God and his truth ; the same unity of sentiment and purpose — the glory of Messiah in the salvation of lost men. This sameness — we do not say similarity, but this sameness — of logical method and substance, in our humble judgment, constitutes the irresistible internal evi- dence of authorship. No man since the days of Isaiah could be the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews but Paul, the Mis- sionary to the Gentiles. 6. Confirmatory of this is our sixth preliminary remark, in 2 14 INTEODUCTION. answer to the inquiry, In what language? The commonly received opinion is the true one. It was originally written, as we have it now, in Greek. This truth acquires a strong presumption from the fact that, as far back as historical notices of it can be traced, it is recognized as a Greek document. Paul was born a Roman citizen at Tarsus, a city of some celebrity for its commerce and its schools, in which, doubtless, the Greek language, then ver- nacular in Western Asia, and spoken by educated men all over the East, was critically studied. No controversy has ever existed as to the thirteen Epistles. All admit that this missionary to the heathen wrote in Greek ;• and as we have the fourteenth in that tongue, it has the right of prescription, and the burden of proof lies on the opponent of this view. It has been argued that, being addressed to Jewish Christians, it ought to be in Hebrew. But Paul, writing to the Romans, used the Greek language. Besides, pure Hebrew was not spoken in Judea at this time. Their ver- nacular was a compound of Hebrew, Chaldee and Syriac, and no one of the elements, any more than the composite result of their commixture, could at that time have been used as the vehicle of this grand discussion, with equal hope of success, as Paul's vernaculai". The idea of its being Avritten in Hebrew and translated into Greek meets with two serious objections, utterly insurmount- able— viz., first, no historian has ever professed to have seen a Hebrew manuscript of it ; and secondly, it bears on its face the ease and smoothness of an original, and nothing at all of the cramp, stiffness, and awkward constructions of a translation. Moreover, had it been written in Hebrew, it were impossible to explain those passages where citations from the Old Testa- ment are translated into Greek — " first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace," vii. 2. He translates the Hebrew name of the ancient priest, which is composed of two words, Melek, king, INTEODUCTION. 15 and Tzedek, righteousness ; so also Salem, a Hebrew word that means peace. Now, such interpretation would be useless and senseless, if he were writing in Hebrew. So John i. 41 : " We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ ;" and 42 : " Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpreta- tion, Petros," or in English, " a stone." And in ver. 38 : " They said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master)." 7. Our next inquiry, drawn forth by the exclamation, " Manna !" regards the grand design of the Epistle. This is to dissuade the Hebrews from apostasy — i. e., to guard them against renouncing the faith of Jesus the Son of God ; or, to state it in a positive form, to persuade them to hold fast the profession of their faith firm unto the end. This grand end must be our guiding star — our Star of Bethlehem — from which we may not turn away our eye. In so stating, we lay down a universal law of hermeneutics. He who will give the true interpretation of any instrument of writing, must first read and study it, until he catches its spirit, its master-thought, its leading idea, the essential jirinciple of its unity. As perspicuity is the first and highest quality of style, so unity is the j^rime excellence toward perspicuity. Every honest man that speaks or writes, does so, because he has something to utter — some idea or thought, whose communication he believes will be profitable to the hearer or reader. Some sj^eakers, in- deed, we have known, who were not listened to, who speak, not because they have anything to say, but simply because they wish to make a speech. These we exclude, when we afiirm that every honest speaker or writer designs to utter some useful thought. Let the expositor of any writing, first of all, make himself ac- quainted with this, and then regulate his detail in reference and subordination to it. This laborious and important service has been accomplished by many learned and successful expositors ; and by none that have come under our eye more efficiently than 16 INTRODUCTION. by the two to whom we are most indebted — Dr. John Owen and Dr. John M. Mason. These, and others too, have, after most IJatient and painstaking effort, elaborated the principle of unity above stated. This Epistle is a dehortation from apostasy; or, positively stated, its grand design is to gather up, prepare and minister the spiritual food — the heaven-descended manna — for the sustentation of the life of the Church. Accordingly, we shall find here the entire gospel of God's salvation — all the great elements of evangelical truth. And lastly, as to preliminaries, 8. This manna is to be prepared, by grinding it in the mill of a searching and sound criticism, or beating it in the mortar of an infallible and eternal logic. " And Paul, as his manner was, . . . reasoned with them out of the Scriptures; opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead : and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Messiah." This characteristic of our apostle alone, ought to satisfy any man capable of appreciating an argument, that none but he could have written this letter. Here is our pattern. We must search the Scriptures, not confining ourselves- within the bounds of the letter itself; but referring to the contexts whence it makes citations ; comparing Scripture with Scripture ; and so following the analogies of the faith, that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we may reach satisfactory conclusions as to what is His mind and will in those portions of the inspired records that come under our investigation. And this will we do, if God permit. T COMMENTAET Epistle to the Hebrews. CHAPTER I. Verses 1-4. " God, who at sundry times, and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the pro- phets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by lih Sou, whom he hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ; Who, being the brightness of Ms glory and the express image of his pei'son, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high ; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." The logical analysis op the Epistle is presented to us in this one complex sentence. A comparison is instituted between the Mosaic and the Evangelical or Messianic dis- pensations. This, as most comparisons, reveals points of agreement and points of difference. The former, coinciding with the views of the Hebrews (professors of Christianity or not), need no argumentation, and are simply named and passed by as matter of mutual agreement. Even the ques- 2* 17 18 COMMENTARY ON THE tion of the Messiah, long promised aud expected, was not a subject of controversy ; nor even the question, whether Jesus of Nazareth is he that should come. This was admitted by those to whom the letter is primarily addressed. They held the doctrines of the Bible concernmg Messiah ; and moreover that this Jesus is he. 1. The first poiut of agreement between these two dispen- sations, or administrations of the covenant guaranteeing mercy to lost men, lies in the sameness of their origin — God is the author of both. God spake by Moses ; God speaks by his Son. Obviously, then, it is the Father — the divine essence, in the person of the Father, it is, that pre- sides over the whole economy of redemption, and rules and regulates all the movements of mercy. The mission of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and all their operations, are directed by the Jehovah in the first person. 2. They agree in this, that the communication in both is mediate. Direct intercourse between God and his people does not occur, but he speaks through mediators. In this they agree ; whilst, of course, the mediators are diverse, as we shall see. 3. It hence follows, that the oral communications — the messages as spoken, and the matter of them as committed to writing — are of divine authority. The apostle thus com- pliments by coinciding with his Hebrew brethren, in his supreme regard for the lively oracles, and so recognizes along with them the sacred Scriptures as the basis of future discussion. " Thus saith the Lord " — thus and thus it is written, closes up controversy and excludes gainsaying. Points of difference, revealed by comparison, are more numerous and lead us into our exposition of terms. And — • (1.) As to the mode. Our translation has it, " at sundry times;" more literally, as all scholars agree, " in many parts." This refers to the different portions of the Old Testament EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 19 revelations, which were communicated by about thirty dif- ferent writers and thirty-nine distinct books. Besides, many of these books — such as the Psahus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. — contain many portions separate from other parts and delivered at different times. Assuming that Moses wrote first at Sinai, which was fourteen hundred and ninety-one years before Christ ; and that Malachi closed the canon, four hundred and twenty years before Christ, these holy writings are spread over a period of at least one thousand and seventy- one years. This, doubtless, is the reason why our translators render the word xoXuixepwq " at sundry times," expressing the historical truth, but not all of it, nor even the leading idea : the viany parts being most prominent, but necessarily involving sundry times. (2.) " In diverse manners " is more literal — still more so, if we render noXurpunw';, in viany ways. And here ref- erence is had — (a), To the audible voice, as to Moses atHoreb, on Sinai, aud elsewhere ; as to Joshua at Jordan, as to Isa- iah, Jeremiah, as to Elijah, and others. (6), The writing on the stone tables, (c). In dreams, as to Joseph, Isaiah, Daniel, etc. (d), In visions, where the bodily senses as external are locked up and the imagery of thought is pre- sented to the mind independently of the senses, as to Abram, Gen. XV. 31 ; Job iv. 13 ; Dan. ii. 28, iv. 5, vii. 1, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc. (e), In plain language, in parables, in alle- gories, etc. Some of these many toays contrast and differ from those under the New Testament, not so much in their principle as to the extent in which they are practiced, being seldom resorted to. But we have examples in John's apocalyptic visions, in Peter's great sheet, and his dream therewith connected. Nor do the many parts differ, but in de- gree and in time ; there being twenty-seven parts, or separate books, and ten different writers ; and the writing was all accomplished within the brief period of forty-four years. 20 COMMENTARY ON THE (3.) The third point of comparison and contrast, regards the parties addressed — to the fathers, to %is. I see no reason whj we may not comprehend among the fathers, Abraham and Noah and MethuseLih and Enoch, and all the worthies who preceded the Saviour's advent. That he qmke unto them is undoubted, although the matter spoken was not written prior to Moses. This does not, however, conflict with the idea, that the Hebrew nation is peculiarly and emphatically comprehended under the term fathers. To that people above all were the lively oracles addressed ; and for the use and improvement of their teachings, in a very especial manner, were the seed of Abraham responsible ; and these leading men were the medium of instruction to the masses of the people — the children learned of the fathers. The other side of the contrast — to us — though primarily including the Jewish believers, covers all Avithiu the limita- tion of time called the last days. To us is the gospel preached as well as unto them. (4.) And this presents another point of comparison — in time past ; or more literally anciently : it leaves the poi'tion of duration or time very indefinite, covering, it may be, all antiquity. Correspoudently indefinite is the expression, these last days. The terms seem to suggest rather the rela- tions of the times, as to antecedence and subsequence, than proportion of duration. If we apply the former to all past ages wherein God spake to the fathers, then, the last of these days, or these last days, must embrace all the ages in which God spake by his Son ; and the question forces itself upon us, whether this phrase marks the jieriod in and at which the Son spoke directly and personally, or designates the wlu)le times in which he speaks by the words as recorded ))y his inspired penmen — that is, the whole period of the gospel dispensation. Owen objects to this last, and makes it refer to " the last days of the Judaical Church and EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 21 State," and, of course, applies it to the personal ministry of Messiah mainly, '"'though not solely intended." If the reading, "the last of these days," could be established, it would decide with Owen. This, however, has not been done, and probably cannot ; and if not, the application to the more extended period of the gospel dispensation, and the authoritative speaking of the Son, in the writings in- spired by him (He wrote nothing himself), would seem to be the better interpretation. For the phrase, thus taken, covers the other sense — that is, takes in the close of the Jewish times ; which use corresponds with Isa. ii. 2 : " And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills : and all nations shall flow unto it." Gen. xlix. 1, referred to by Owen as proof, does not sustain him in limiting the phrase to the personal ministration of Christ in the days of his flesh — " that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last daysy But among Jacob's predictions are some mat- ters which, like those just quoted from Isaiah, do not come within the period of this personal ministration. V. 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." This gathering occurred after his personal ministry was ended. The prophecy of Daniel concerning "what shall be in the latter days" (ii. 28) refers to some things not yet accomplished. And in 2 Tim. iii. 1, " that in the last days perilous times shall come," certainly refers to the Papal apostasy, which occurred not until six centuries after the personal ministration of .the Son had closed. This exposi- tion is preferred by Prof. Sampson in his excellent critical work, p. 44 : " In the New Testament, the phrase is frequent under different forms of equivalent meaning, in all of them designating Messianic times, but referring more particularly 22 COMMENTARY ON THE to different periods of it. Thus, in Acts ii. 17, Heb. i. 1, and 1 Pet. i. 20, it refers to apostolic times, and in 2 Tim, iii. 1, James v. 3, 2 Pet. iii. 3, to later times near Christ's second coming." (5.) Another point of contrast is the media of communi- cation— hy the prophets and hy his Son. The literal mean- ing of the Greek word prophet — a word which we have adopted into our language — is simply one who speaks before- hand— who describes events before they come to pass. It implies foreknowledge ; and when the event lies in the dis- tant future and is not capable of being known, like an eclipse, by calculation, it proves the projihet to be inspired of God, for prescience of the far-off future belongs only to Him " who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." Foreknowledge, in the order of nature and of human intelligence, depends on foreordination. I know that when the minute and hour hands meet over a certain figure, the clock-hammer will strike the bell twelve times ; I know this, because I know that a system of instrumentalities has been arranged, foreordained, to bring about this result. Pre- diction of distant events, such as mock at and lie beyond all human calculation, proves the man who makes it to be a prophet in the generic meaning of the word. But this meaning is modified in scriptural usage; and he is a prophet, who stands between God and men, and makes known to them God's teachings, whether they relate to future events or not — as Moses communicated much to Israel tliat was not prediction of future events ; so did Paul, and Peter, and David and others. Accordingly, in the New Testament, evangelists who read and expounded the Scriptures to the people are accounted prophets. Paul, in 1 Cor. xiv., makes this plain ; he shows that " he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort; he that prophesieth edifieth the church ;" and he proves at EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 23 length the superiority of one who performs this function to those who exercise miraculous gifts, and urges, " Covet to prophesy." God anciently spoke in the prophets; in these last days, IN his Son. This close rendering gives at once an insight into the nature of inspiration. The Spirit of God took pos- session of the body, mind and heart of the men, and used them as God's instruments for the utterance of his words, and in the writing controlled the hand and the pen. " For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. i. 21. And in 1 Pet. i. 11 he lets us know, that the prophets were so completely instrumental in God's hand, that sometimes they did not understand the meaning of the Spirit's language which they had spoken or written : "Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified be- forehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow." Daniel also confesses (xii. 6), " And I heard, but I understood not : then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said. Go thy way, Daniel : for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Doubtless, much of the language which he uttered, was as unintelligible to Balaam as were her own utterances to the ass on which he rode. In the former case, the words were no more those of the speaker than in the latter. Much against his own desires, the Eastern soothsayer proclaimed to the affrighted and en- raged king the sure word of true prophecy. What concep- tions had the wicked prophet of the spiritual beauty, glory and felicity of God's redeemed Church, or of the grandeur and majesty of the Star that should arise out of Jacob? With the light of thirty-three centuries, and that Star, now the Sun of righteousness, shining into our understandings, 24 COMMENTARY ON THE how little — oil how little! — do we yet know of the felicity, beauty and glory of our divine Lord and of the Church which he hath redeemed with his own blood ! How very imperfect, then, must have beeu the views of this ancient seer whose soul was absorbed with the love of gold ! No ; the words are God's: "All Scripture" — all the sacred writings — " are given by inspiration of God ;" and the men who "spake as they were moved" — borne along, as the original means — " by the Holy Ghost," had afterward to study their own language, and, like the angels who desire to look into its meaning, they had fewer facilities than we have now, and therefore less probabilities of success than the modern scholar. Plenary inspiration then — an inspira- tion of the very words and an overruling superintendence of the writing — is the only true doctrine on this subject. It is all Scripture, all the holy writings, which from a child Timothy had known, that Paul assures him are given by inspiration of God, 2 Tim. iii. 15, 16. Those who deny the plenary inspiration of the language, make a bold, reckless and dangerous advance toward utter infidelity. If these Avords are not God's, and if we admit the theory of inspira- tion of general ideas, which leaves the prophet to exercise his skill in the selection of words independent of any mov- ing and governing influence from the spirit within him, then we have no inspired writings. And if, in speaking, there is no controlling j^ower of the Spirit, the message is man's and not God's; we cannot rest in the belief of any- thing higher, holier, safer than the wisdom, honesty and discretion of a fallible man. A divine faith, based on a merely human testimony, is the foundation of the Church, and not the word of God, the rock of eternal truth. How much this differs from a denial of supernatural revelation, let the reader judge. From such views of Scripture, the EPISTLE TO THE HEBREAVS. 25 Lord deliver his Church, and let the dumb ass, speaking with man's mouth, forbid the madness of such prophets ! The other side claims our attention— in the Son — in the fathers. This contrast instantly suggests natural relation- ship ; although there is something of figure in applying the term fathers to persons far back in the line of descent. Still, father and son are relative terms ; and the relations expressed by them are natural. We are therefore now to inquire into the Sonship of the Messiah : and our first re- mark is this very assertion, that he is of the same nature with his Father. If nothing in the context of any writing calls upon us to interpret words in a figurative sense, we have no right to do it ; for this would be not to interpret, but to pervert. A letter writer speaks of the son of the President being sick or dead, have you a right, on the faith of this epistle, to give out, that the Secretary of State is dead ? This officer is appointed by the Pres- ident and is subordinate to him in several respects similar to that of a son to his natural parent : but can this justify such an interpretation of the letter and the fraudulent speculations and intrigues to which it may give rise ? An Indian chief calls the President his Father ; does this au- thorize you to charge the highest officer in the nation with having broken the seventh commandment? Would the analogies which lead to this figurative use of the word father, justify you before a legal tribunal in a suit for slan- der ? The rule stands therefore, that words are to be inter- preted in their plain, natural meaning, unless the connection shows that they are used figuratively. The word Son must here be understood in its usual natural force, unless it be shown from the context that the writer designed it as a figure; and this throws the burden of proof on the advocate of the figure. The son partakes of the nature of his father : a man's child inherits the properties of humanity : and the 3 26 ('()M>[EXTARY ON THE Son of God possesses the attributes of Godhead. This the apostle will prove in due time. We need add only an ob- servation or two on the figurative interjiretation of the Unitarian school. They affirm that Son of God is only an official title of Messiah, and does not at all imply his pos- session of the divine nature. Were this so, then the names Messiah and Sou of God mean the same thing and may be interchanged : and the assertion, Christ is the Son of God is resolved into Christ is Christ : Messiah is Messiah ; the Son of God is the Son of God ! Messiah, translated into Greek from the Hebrew, becomes Christ : into English, Anointed. These are equivalent — rather identical, and are expressive of official relation. Kings and priests were of old intro- duced into office by the application of oil upon their person ; this signifying the conferring of official powers and official qualifications. The Lord's anointed, in civil things, is the person on whom he has laid the duty of ruling ; in sacred things, of conducting religious worship : so Aaron and his sons ; so Saul and David, etc. So in Psalm ii. : " I have anointed my king — thou art my Son, this day have I be- gotten thee " — and Ps. xlv. : " God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness — ;" and Ps. cxxxii., "I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed." So in Dan. ix. 25 " from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be," etc. " And after threescore and two weeks shall INIessiah be cut off, but not for himself." Messiah then is an official title of the Saviour ; but Son of God is not : it signifies his natural procession from the First person, and intlicates same- ness of nature. This expression, therefore, in the Son, presents the doctrine of the mystical union of the first and the second persons in the Godhead. The Father and the Son are distinct in per- sonality, but one in essence — " thou Father art in me, and EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 27 I in thee — " " he that hath seen me hath seen the Father — " " Belie vest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me?" Cheerfully do we admit that this is a great mys- tery ; for so it is reasonable to expect. If there were nothing in the mode of the divine existence incomprehensible by our finite minds, we should in this fact have ground of doubt as to the very being of God. If there are inscrutable mysteries in our own nature, how much more in the infinite One in Three and Three in One. Could I comprehend in my imperfect understanding everything in the God of the Bible, I should say he is not the God that made the universe. My inability to form a clear and definite conception of this mutual in-being of the divine personal- ities included in the Trinity, creates a presumption of its truth. The fact afiirmed in the doctrine I can believe, whilst the mode of the fact I cannot comprehend. The fact that I see the moon and the stars afar ofi" in the lirmanent, I believe ; but hoiv ? in what manner ? — the mode of the fact no man can explain. In this sense the world is full of mysteries. Even material nature, and how much more spiritual nature, baffles all human philosophy. If the grass of the field or the pebble beneath our foot contains facts too wonderful for our skill to unfold and fully to explain, how can it be expected that our powers should unravel the mysteries of the Godhead, and bring the holy Trinity down to the comprehension of our finite minds ? Thus has the apostle, within this very brief space, recog- nized, as common to both dispensations compared and con- trasted, the divine inspiration of the scriptures ; the Trinity of persons in the Unity of the Godhead — the Father and the Son expressly by name; and the Spirit by necessary implica- tion as dwelling in the ancient prophets and bearing them along ; and the prophetic character of Messiah. Thus also 28 COMMENTARY OX THE has he touched several points of difference in degree or iu kind, wherein the New Testament dispensation has the ad- vantage ; iu all of which, however, there is no contradiction. Thus, without raising up disputed points, he has prepared the way for exhibiting the pre-eminence of the Son, according to the Holy Scriptures recognized by the Hebrews themselves, officially and personally above all the agencies heretofore employed as internuncios or mediators between God aud men. The personal pre-eminence and grandeur of Messiah give infinite weight and force to the arguments bearing upon official relations. These last are classified into three de- partments, viz. : those of King, Prophet, and Priest. As the doctrine of the Trinity herein premised, lies at the basis of the whole dispensation of mercy under both the Old and the New, so the three offices of Christ embrace the entire matter of the Epistle, and to one or the other, every item of the detail is referable, and must be referred in its proper time and j^lace. Nor let the student of this heaven conse- crated logic suppose, that these classes of illustrations and proofs must be taken up one after another, and finished up before any branch of another is introduced. This slight in- termingling, however, does not create any confusion, for it is easy to refer each to its appropriate class. And six items are here mentioned. 1. He is appointed by the Father heir of all things. 2. He created all things. 3. He is in himself a glorious manifestation of the divine perfections. 4. He is by consequence tlie governor of universal being. 5. He has offered up the only sacrifice tliat can take away sin and secure salvation to the lost. 6. Having finished the work assigned to him as INIediator, he of course takes possession of his glorious throne in tlie heavens. And these six items make it evident, that the Son is far superior to the angels, through whose ministrations the Old Testament dis- pensation was instituted at Sinai, and intimates the measure EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 29 of excess ; viz., as much better or superior as he hath inher- ited a more excellent name tlian they. Let us open up these in order ; and 1. The heirship of the Son. An heir is one who receives an estate — any property from another after his death. The owner, either in writing or orally, exjDresses his will, that after his decease, his property shall pass over to the pos- session of another or others. If no such will be expressed, it is implied that the decedent acquiesces in the disposition which is made by the laws of the country. Whether by oral or written will, or by omitting both and leaving the disposal to the laAV, the dying man appoints his heir : and this universal custom is based on the assumption of a right in property ; and, moreover, a right during life to decide who shall possess it after the testator has departed this life. Such seems to be one of the moralities of worldly goods, as proved by the universality of the custom. Some years ago an effort was made to prove the custom unreasonable and improper, and to show that the property of deceased persons ought to revert to the Commonwealth and be distributed equally all over society. But this doctrine of community of goods — this philosophy of infidelity — did not find much favor, and even its advocates took care to make their wills and submit to the laws of God in this matter. In accord- ance therewith, the Father of eternity made his Son heir of all things. On this two remarks are requisite. (1.) A finite being could not inherit all things. Incompetency to receive and use his father's estate, prevents the infant or imbecile child of an earthly parent from inheriting in the full and proper sense ; and human laws provide a trustee or guardian- ship in such cases. If the Son of God were a man merely, frail and liable to imbecility, disqualifying him from the management of all things, he could not be made the inheritor of all God's universe. This shuts us up to the belief of the 3* 30 COMMENTARY OX THE true divinity of the Son. (2.) On the other hand, if the Son were only divine — if he had not a finite nature — if he were not man, he could not be appointed, made, constituted heir of all things ; for viewed as a divine person only, he pos- sessed all things from tlie time of their creation : a right to them could not be given, because it existed from eternity. Hence we are constrained to believe the doctrine of " the Word made flesh." It is the God-Man, the Mediator, the Messiah that is appointed Heir of all things, and this in- evitable logical conclusion is^ur 2. Item under the kingly office — " by whom also he made the worlds." So John testifies. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any- thing made that was made." i. 1-3. We may not then be told, that Messiah — the Son, was only an agent in the organization of the new dispensation, and that this is all that is meant by his making the worlds. For Paul in 1 Cor. viii. 6 says, " There is one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things." And Col. i. 16, "For by him — the First-born — were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible." The fathers, and the prophets, and the angels — the heavens and the earth — all are the jiroduct of his creating power, how gloriously then does he rise above all the agencies of the Old Economy ! In chap. xi. 3, the word here translated xvorlds, undoubtedly means not the ages, but the universe — " Through faith we understand that the rvorlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." The Woi'd of God — the Messiah is the author of the universe. God our Redeemer is God our Creator. And this is meet so to be, for it is only in con- EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 31 temj)lating this glorious creation that we gain a knowledge of the Creator. 3. For he is the brightness of the Father's glory. Like the dazzling splendor of the natural sun to the sun himself. The brightness is such that you cannot behold it directly — the eye would be destroyed by it : but the light radiated abroad gives us a correct idea of the body whence it comes. "The brightness of his glory" is, then, the effulgence of everything excellent in him, and this is seen in the face of his Son. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." The express image. The character. This is the original Greek, which we have adopted into our language. It is taken from the delineator or engraver's art, where the accu- racy of the likeness is the excellence of the work. Of his person, of his substance. " The apostle then lays down the proposition, that the Son is the effulgence of God's glory and the exact delineation of his substance." And this runs us into the sphere of his prophetic office, in the exercise of whose functions the Father is revealed to us. In the ancient prophets, revelation Avas a twilight ; at best a morn- ing star ; but in the Son, it is the splendor of the risen day : as Malachi foretold — " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings." Other luminary to the soul in darkness there is none. An extemporized star could guide the Eastern Sages, when aided by the shouts of the angelic host, to the place wdiere lay the babe of Bethlehem ; but the brilliancy of the Sun of righteousness only, aided by the groans of Gethsemane, and no ignis fatuus of human philosophy, can ever lead a soul, wandering amid the darkness of mere nature's light, to the mansions in our Father's house, where sits the risen Redeemer, in all the effulgence of his own glorious throne. "If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" — not only who are hopelessly and forever gone, but also to all 32 CO.AIMENTAllY ON THE those who still wauder in the mazes of an erring philosophy and refuse to come to the light of eternal life. 4. To the Son moreover belongs the supreme dominion — the actual government — the upholding of all things by the word of his power. Upholding, cov, it is the same root word, as above referred to describing the operation of the Spirit of inspii-ation. 2 Pet. i. 21 — "holy men of God spake as they were moved — tpepoiisvoi — sustained and carried along, by the Holy Ghost : and it includes both these ideas ; — (1.) The sustaining or keeping in existence all things. This implies the doctrine, that God alone is self-existent ; all creatures are dependent on him for their being and its attributes. (2.) All existences are governed, limited, con- trolled by his power who sustains them. The conception of an independent creature, cannot be received into the understanding. AVe can utter the words as a proposition, as we can say ten and six make forty, but we cannot con- ceive them as expressing a truth. The philosophical theory, that puts man, as a creature endowed with the faculty of will, above the Creator, in such sense as involves his inde- pendence in all acts of his will, denies this attribute to our Lord. " An independent being is a God," and absolutely inde- pendent volition in men involves atheism. Now why should men advocate such a theory ? We can see no reason for it ; but we can see its motive power in the pride of the human heart. Assuming omniscience as a quality of the human reason, — determined to believe nothing, as to fact and mode, which they cannot explain ; and being unable to explain how God can sustain and govern man as a voluntary agent, they come boldly up and deny that the human will is one of the all things, which Messiah sustains, governs and con- trols. Man, says this philosophy of such direct atheistical tendency, is a free, moral agent, and therefore God himself cannot even by the w^ord of his power, change, modify, con- EPISTLE TO THE HEBREAVS. 33 trol, by motives or in any possible way, the sovereign will of the sinner, without destroying his moral agency. It is a small matter to this philosophy, that it dethrones Jehovah by setting the human will far above divine control : and this in the face of the scripture which presents the sweet promise, " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Ps. ex. 3. And in Ps. xxii. 27, " All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord : and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him." How could God present such a promise to Messiah and his people, if God had not the power to turn the hearts of men, to change their wills, to uew-ci'eate their souls ? What if the nations should be unwilling to worship before him ? Where then is the Father's promise ; and what becomes of his veracity ? AVould any honest man promise to accomplish what he kncAV never could be within his power ? No more does God. In the next verse he refers to this very sustain- ing and governing power of his Son, " For the kingdom is the Lord's ; and he is the Governor among the nations." God can govern voluntaiy agents. But hoxo " he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will " — how " he worketh in us both to ivill and to do of his good pleasure," without destroying our voluntary action and moral ac- countability, we cannot understand. The fact is taught in scripture ; and it reveals itself in our consciousness : Ave have the Avitness in our oAvn souls, that we act freely, volun- tarily, willingly in embracing the salvation of God ; and he assures us, " it is God that worketh in us the Avilling and the doing of his good pleasure." Of the existence and consistency of these two I have the highest conceivable evi- dence ; and yet how it is — the mode of that consistency lies away beyond the range of my intellect. In this ignorance I am content. God knows more than I do, and may ex- plain it in the light of his divine throne hereafter. Mean- 34 COMMENTARY ON THE while it is safer to admit an unveiled mystery and tlierein to confess my ignorance, than to arraign the divine omnis- cience and abrogate the divine government of Messiah. 5. From this function — our Lord's kingly office, the apostle carries us forward to the grand truth on which are dependent both the pi'ophetic and the kingly, as to real, practical efficiency ; — the great burden of the priesthood : he hath by himself purged our sins — having made purgation of our sins. Here note (1.) We are sinners ; have trans- gressed the law of God. This is pre-supposed in the very conception of salvation, whose announcement is the Gospel. (2.) We are polluted ; moral turpitude, depravity, indispo- sition and inability to holy spiritual action, are involved in sin : and these must be taken away. (3.) We are guilty, that is liable to punishment — the wages of sin is death. Wages must be paid ; justice demands it. " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (4.) All these, being included in the idea of purgation, our Lord has effected by himself. This is in contradistinction, (1st,) from ourselves. We cannot remove our guilt or turpitude. If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, how shall we change our whole nature and wash out the deep stains on the soul ; how shall we pay unto God a sufficient ransom ? (2d,) In opposition to the sacrifices of the old law. Can the blood of bulls and of goats take away sin ? More plausible is the plea of the Syrian nobleman for the waters of Abana and Pharpar, 2 Kings V. 12, or the Hindoo for those of Ganges. (3d,) In opposition to even the authorized sacrifices of the Aaronic Priesthood, whose inefficiency he afterwards proves, from their frequent offering. (4th,) To anything and everything under the old law, that did not look to ISIessiah the Prince, Prophet and Priest. By himself alone can be and hath our sin been purged, as will appear more fully hereafter. 6. This work, for the accomplishment of which he as- EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 35 sumed humanity, being completed, he, of course, receives his reward : he returns and takes his seat on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. If Jesus had not settled the whole terms upon which death could have any claims upon us, he had never risen from the grave. But he has taken away everything upon which the grasp of death could seize, and therefore it was not possible he could be bound thereby. He hath risen, as in the nature of eter- nal justice he must rise, and in rising has given glorious evidence of his Godhead. We may not trouble ourselves about' localities in the boundlessness of space. Whether the great English astronomical divine, who assured us, that his knowledge of that sublime science enabled him to say, there was no room in space for such a locality as Trini- tai'ians conceived heaven to be, has yet found out, that he had not swept, with his tube scientific, all the corners of God's universe, we are not aware; no message having been received from heaven since his exit from this mundane sphere. But one thing is very certain — in our Father's house are many mansions ; and our Saviour, who has gone to furnish and prepare them for us, will meet no insurmountable obstacles in bringing his many sous unto glory : and as they pass up in countless millions, they will welcome us to the skies, exclaiming, " And yet there is room." Oh yes! the Son of God is in heaven — he hath seated himself on the right hand of the majesty on high. A King he sits upon his throne — on the right hand— the place of highest honor — the place of supreme rule. " I have set my King upon my Holy hill of Zion." All in heaven ; all on earth ; all in God's wide domain are sub- jected to the dominion of him at Bethlehem born : for, be it remembered, it is the Babe of the manger, who is Lord of the universe : it is the Man of Calvary that burst the mortal bondage of the grave and ascended in triumph at 36 COMMENTARY ON THE the head of his angel bauds : it is he that groaned in Geth- semane, who sits in yonder throne and who shall come with power and great glory ; with the voice of the archangel — his own almighty word shall wake the sleeping dust of all the millions of his redeemed. Such, oh children of Abraham ! would the Apostle say, — these, these are the consolations the gospel tenders to you for the distresses you must soon be called to suffer, by the destruction of your whole civil and ecclesiastical system. When all shall have been swept away, bear in mind, that your Messiah has ascended in triumph ; your elder brother hath taken possession of his own throne ; the Son of David is Lord of the universe ! V. 4. All these things bespeak a superiority indisputable above the angels ; and the apostle notes the fact and the degree of the excess. 1. He is made and declared to be superior. Seated in the most honored part of the throne, he extends his do- minion over all ; and the angels stand around the same throne, awaiting his commands and exulting in their execu- tion ; and feeling it to be their highest honor to serve the highest Lord. 2. The measure of this excess is not absolutely, but only relatively defined. So much better is he, as he hath in- herited a more excellent name than they possess. The name of anything is that by which it is designated and dis- tinguished from all others. Name is not the vocal sounds, or the written marks which we use conventionally to call up a given person or thing to view or notice : but the dis- tinctive characteristics ai'e the name. The name of the Lord Jesus comprehends every excellence and glory that distinguishes him from all creatures. As he was made better than the angels — higher, superior — which implies not an increase in dignity as God, but as Mediator ; and as he EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 37 was apjjointed heir ; so he acquires this superior name by inheritance. Perhaps we may admit the suggestion, that allusion is here made to the human custom of transmitting titles of official dignity along with the estate. The inheritor succeeds to the title of nobility attached to the heritage : the successor to a throne inherits the name or title proper to the kingdom to which he is the heir; and he derives advantage from the fair reputation, the respectability, the fame and eclat of his predecessor. Thus, this verse affirms the grand proposition, that the Son of God, as Messiah, is transcendently superior to the angels. This is the first step in his argument for dissuading the Hebrews from apostasy. He has instituted a comparison between the two dispensations, and this proposition is the result. If it be true that the Head of the New Dispensa- tion is greatly more excellent than the angels, who were the most exalted agency employed in the ministrations of the Old, then it must follow, that our obligations are correspond- ently greater to adhere steadfastly to the New : and this is the conclusion he reaches in the first verse of chapter second ; " Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." The ten verses, from the fifth to the fourteenth inclusive, are devoted to this proof; and we have in them a fine exhibition of Paul's familiarity with, and su- preme reverence for the sacred Scriptures; and, moreover, of his logical method of wielding the sword of the Spirit. V. 5. " For unto which of the angels said he at any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." This is a quotation from Ps. ii. 7. The word For {yap) is a causal particle ; it intimates a reason in support of some statement preceding. It is of very frequent use, and very generally for this purpose. We have examples in ii. 2, 5, 4 38 COMMENTARY ON THE 10, 11, 16, 18. The matter preceding, to wliich for has reference, is the nuiiu proposition before us — Christ — Mes- siah, the God-man is superior to the angels ; for — because the Fatlier never calls an angel his Son ; and if any man affirm to the contrary, let him adduce the proof. " Unto which of the angels." This seems adapted to the idea of different ranks and degrees of dignity among these heavenly messengers. Jkit take the most exalted, and when did God ever call one of them his Son ? This glorious name is His inheritance : it belongs to him in consequence of his natural relationship to Jehovah. And when this Saviour was about to assume humanity, Gabriel said, Luke i. 35, " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called, The Son of God." Now, that the Psalm so designates him is i)lainly set forth : and that the whole of it relates to Mes- siah even the best Jewish expositors, (as Owen has shown) until recently, so understood it. Later Jews affirm its ap- plication to David, the Son of Jesse : of which, however, they cannot find proof. But the whole drift and spirit of it establishes the correctness of our apostle's application : and that of Peter and John and their whole company, see Acts iv. 25, 26, 27. Besides the eighth and ninth verses of the Psalm cannot be understood at all of David. " To-day have I begotten thee " can never be explained of David ; for if he wrote the Psalm, the words literally ap- plied to him would not be true as to time ; and there is no meaning in the word begotten, peculiar to David. As a creature of God he was begotten and might be called his son ; as of Solomon he says, 1 Chron. xxviii. 26, "I have chosen him to be my son," or as " of Adam, which was the son of God." But neither man nor angel was ever addressed thus, " Thou art the Son of God." Moreover, " to-day have EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 39 I begotten thee " is applicable only to the eternal genera- tion, " The transaction, (says Dr. Sampson, p. 57) was one ah eterno ; and therefore the relation is as eternal. It was not first constituted by his incarnation ; nor by his subsequent exaltation. Not by the former, for his mediato- rial power, conferred in virtue of his sonship, began to be exercised long before his incarnation." The voice of God from heaven at his baptism on his entry upon his public ministry proclaimed, " this is my beloved Sou, in whom I am well pleased :" and a voice came out of the cloud, say- ing, " This is my beloved Son ; hear him." And John i. 14, 18 calls him " the only begotten of the Father "— " the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father." Such language has never been addressed to or spoken of any angel. " And again, I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son." This is quoted from 2 Sam. vii. 14. But we find that Solomon is more especially regarded in that context, and the propriety of this application seems at first glance questionable : but this appearance will be corrected, if we consider a few things. (1.) Solomon was in some degree a type of Christ ; and like all personal types, cannot be full and perfect in all his character and relations, but must be typical only in certain points. One of them is stated in v. 13. " He shall build an house to my name " — This resembles Christ : so, as King of Israel, as Son of David, as especially favored of God, as distinguished for wisdom. Consequently in these he is typical ; but as a sinful man, as a temporary sojourner on earth, as liable to fall into idolatry he could not typify the Saviour, (2.) Some things in the place are not explainable of Solomon, — as, " I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever :" and the establishment of his family on the throne forever, whereas his kingdom, literally taken, was soon broken up 40 COMMENTARY ON THE and his family divided and scattered. (3.) The precise point for which the quotation is made, it subserves : viz., to prove that the promised Messiah inherited a glorious name, which is above every name — that there was addressed to him and spoken of him a title never addressed to any angel, — that he was declared to be the Son of God with power. Now this Sonship is one of the points ; like his eternity and the eternity of his throne and kingdom, in which the lan- guage is necessarily restricted to the Son of David, and " spoken of for a long time to come " — forever. I will be to Messiah a Father, exercising a fatherly watch and care over him and his kingdom ; and he shall be to me — not now constituted, but continued as from eternity, a Son. No angel stands or ever stood in such relation to God and in- herited such a name. V. 6. " And again, when he bringoth in the First-begot- ten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." — Ps. xcii. 7. The question of connection of the word again, has occa- sioned more discussion than is profitable. Some will have it joined to hringeth — when he again bringeth in, implying that God had on some former occasion brought in his Son, as at creation — at his resurrection. Others are for connecting it with he saith — and when he again saith — implying that the words had been spoken on some former occasion. Our translators give the plain, common sense : again is used in V. 5 as introducing an additional topic ; just as speakers, and writers do at present. One branch of discussion is dis- posed of, and a second is introduced, and again a third. So INIatt. iv. 8. " Again the devil," etc., xix. 24, " And again I say unto you," etc. i^/rif^-begotten and onli/ begotten arc not equivalent terms. The former seems to imjjly a second or more children of the same parent ; but such is not the idea, no more than the EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 41 common designation of a church by the phrase the first church, when there is no other in the place. The implica- tion, however, is an expectation of a second, etc. The word first-born, primarily and naturally means one born before any other to the same parents ; though often it happens, that there is never a second. But neither does this natural force of the word fill up the measure of scriptural usage. The first born, naturally indeed, becomes the head of the house and tribe when the parent is called away. The ruling power and the joroperty largely fall to him ; and this very ancient custom gives dignity, honor, weight. This resulting supremacy is the leading sense of the ex- pression. The cases of Esau and Jacob, of Reuben and Judah ; and, probably, of Cain and Abel, may illustrate the claims of primogeniture. So, when it is said " Israel is my first-born," and " Christ the first-born among many breth- ren," and the promise to Him, Ps. Ixxxix. 27, " I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth," and Col. i. 15 — his dear Son " is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature," the meaning is the same; Jesus has the absolute superiority over every created thing. It comprehends all the glories of his life, death, resurrection and triumphant entrance into heaven, in the presence of the whole universe of intelligence. " Let all the angels of God worship him." Whosoever refuses to worship the Son breaks the first statute of God's empire. " He whom angels worship must be far superior to them. Jehovah says idolatry consists in worshiping them that are not God ; but it is no idolatry to worship Jesus the Son of God." (Mason.) But " only-begotten^' looks not for a second son ; it excludes the idea altogether. One there is and cannot be a second, and he must necessarily be the first-begotten in the chief meaning just given. 4* 42 COMMENTARY OX THE Tills passage is quoted from Ps. xcvii. 7. "Worship Him all ye gods." This psalm is without title, and is by sound critics considered as a continuation of the ninety- sixth, which manifestly is prophetic of Messiah's reign. " Declare his glory among the heathen — say among the lieathen, that the Lord reigneth — Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad — Before the Lord." The ninety- seventh begins in the same Messianic strain ; " The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice : let the multitude of the isles be glad. The heavens declare his- righteousness, and all the people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols : worship him all ye gods." The word Elohbn, usually translated God, signifies strong or mighty ones ; and is properly applied as a name of the Creator ; and never, perhaps unqualifiedly, as the name of idols. When applied to heathen deities, there is generally some qualification, very much as we use the word God. Absolutely it means the Creator; and when we wish to signify idols or false divinities, w^e append some qualification — j'ahc gods, heathen gods, gods of the Greeks, the Romans, etc. With this remark you can easily understand why the word Elohbn in this text, is translated by Paul, angels, after the old Greek or LXX. Dr. Samp- son, p. 67, remarks — "And whatever the critics may say, the translation of Elohim by ayysXot — angels, here made by the Septuagint and Paul, can be abundantly sustained by the examples of Ps. viii. 5 and cxxxviii. 1." In the former, Elohim is in our translation rendered angels and it is so quoted in Ileb. ii. 7. And in the latter it is rendered "gods;" and evidently means magistrates, or angels. So Ps. Ixxxii. G, 7, " I have said, ye are gods, Elohim ; and all of ye are children of the Most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." The time when this order is issued to the angels to wor- EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 43 ship the Son, and the nature of this worship, remain to be discussed. The former is marked by a great event — when he bringeth in the First-begotten into the world. The world is unequivocally, the inhabited earth — the mass of mankind dwelling on the earth : not surely the ground, but the people. At what period did God introduce his Son to the people of the world ? Not surely when the Sinai cove- nant of restrictions was imposed. That system left out and practically excluded the great mass of mankind from the privileges of God's house and worship. But when the middle wall of partition was broken down and the gentile world came under the voice of the glad tidings, and the nations heard the clarion clang of salvation for the lost. " And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them ; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not: for, be- hold, I bring 5'^ou good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people — all the nations. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you : ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest : on earth peace, good-will toward men." Yes, dear reader ! this is, assuredly this is the in-bringing of the Son — the introduction of Messiah — the God-man. And here is the kind of worship which angels can render. They cannot be sprinkled with the blood of Calvary, for they have no sins to be wiped out. They cannot adore the Babe as the shepherds do. They cannot cry aloud for pardoning mercy through atoning blood. They stand in their own spotless robes, and cannot array themselves in the brighter robes of the Messiah's righteousness. They cannot seize the golden harps and strike the high notes of praise to Him who 44 COMMENTARY ON THE sitteth in the riglit hand of the throne. They cannot sing the new song, saying, " Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Rev. v. 9. But they can stand in mute astonishment at his condescending love to men. " And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders : and the number of them — of the angels — was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- sands ; saying with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." And thus do all the angels of God worship the Son at his introduc- tion to the world : and thus is demonstrated the glorious pre-eminence of INIessiah above the angels, who were the most exalted agents in bringing in the Old dispensation. V. 7. " And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." Ps. civ. 4. This language stands in contrast with that of vs. 8 and 9 ; as is intimated by an idiomatic construction, which we can- not render literally into English — " and, on the one hand, of the angels he saith ; but — o?i the other hand, of or unto, it is the same as rendered of in v. 7, of the Son." This con- trast we must keep in mind as we proceed ; for the very purpose of comparison is illustration. Moreover, we must not let slip, either the immediate object of the quotations, or their bearing upon the remote and grand design of the entire discussion. The immediate object is, to prove the superiority of the Messiah to the angels. We have here the fourth proof-text. If the reader will consult the pre- ceding psalm, and note the identity of expression in its close, with the opening of this one hundred and fourth : and moreover, the drift and spirit of the one hundred and EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 45 third, he will probably be of opinion, that the Lord in both is the same ; and that God in Christ is the Jehovah, who hath prepared his throne in the heavens : that " hath re- moved our transgressions from us — that like a Father, pitieth his child, so the Lord pitieth them that hear him." Isa. ix. 6. Messiah is "the everlasting Father" — that He it is, that is " clothed with honor and majesty — he sitteth in the right hand of the majestic throne — who covereth himself with light as with a garment — who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain — by whom the worlds were made — who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters : who maketh the clouds his chariot ; who walketh, (or as Alex- ander prefers to translate) who moveth upon the wings of the wind (spirit) — who maketh his own angels spirits — winds ; and his public official servants a flaming fire." Now this interpretation is as necessary to Paul's logic, as it is to David's poetry and philology. We- may not convict the latter of bad taste and disjointed imagination ; nor the former of far-fetched analogies and inconclusive reasoning, because of a foregone conclusion that Christ cannot be God over all and blessed forever, and at the same time, the glorified Man exalted above the angels. The whole context whence the apostle quotes, agrees precisely with the posi- tions he has taken in his first sentence, in reference to the Son of God. If he is the Prophet, the King, the Priest, the Creator and the Sustainer and Governor and Heir of all things : if he has by himself purged our sins and taken his seat on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens and inherited a name which is above every name : if all these ; then it is right and proper and necessary that the Scrip- tures should say, He maketh his angels spirits — full of life and activity, and his ministers — his liturgists — his public servants of all descriptions, a flaming fire — quick and bright as the lightning, and resistless as the thunderbolt. 46 COMMENTARY ON THE The interpretation which makes this passage mean, that God rules the stormy winds and makes them his messengers to bend the flexible reed or prostrate the mighty oak ; to waft the ship to its desired haven, or plunge it beneath the briny deep : that he controls the forked, fiery, light- ning and directs its force upon the princely tower for its destruction, or directs its harmless shaft to the earth and leaves a purified atmosphere behind — thus making the flaming fire his servant — this interpretation affirms truth, but not the truth that suits Paul's argument. " One deci- sive reason against this is, that the Apostle is comparing the dignity of the angels with that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore this interpretation, which makes him intro- duce fire and wind, can have no manner of connection or sense." How does God's government of winds and light- ning prove the pre-eminence of Messiah over angelic spirits ? His position is, that these mighty Spirits are under the di- rection of the Son of God. One of them we are told, 2 Kings xix. 35, went out and smote on that night one hun- dred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the As- syrians. Ingenious skepticism informs us, this was nothing but a pestilential wind from the desert. What then ? Is this wind under control of the angel of the Lord ; and is the angel that guides this poisonous wind one of our Lord's servants? The more you magnify the power of the wind and the angel, the more you enhance the might of Him who sitteth on the throne, around which hang myriads of millions of these messengers awaiting his commands and rejoicing in their execution. But we must advert to the contrast. — The adversative " but," points this out. The scripture, or the Spirit of in- spiration, speaks of the angels as subordinate ministering spirits — servants in waiting before the throne of majesty. But, on the contrary, of the Son, " Thy throne, O God, is EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 47 forever and ever : a sceptre of righteousness is tlie sceptre of thy kingdom," etc. This is a quotation from Psahii xlv. 6, 7. That this psalm concerns Messiah has always been held by his believing people. A simple reading of this must convince all that have the elements of divine knowledge and any respect for the Holy Scriptures. Such was the application of it, we are assured by men deeply conversant with the subject, by the ancient Jews. All translations and all sects agree, that the King, who is fairer than the children of men ; who rides forth in his majesty because of truth, meekness and righteousness, is the Son of God. It were a work of supererogation to enter on proof of this general opinion. Rather let us glance first at the points here con- trasted. (1.) The angels are ministering servants ; but the Son is Lord of these angels. (2.) The angels are, as the very word signifies, at best ambassadors ; but the Son issues their commissions and calls them to account for their execu- tion. (3.) The angels are the property of the Son — his otvn; but the Son holds them by right of creation. (4.) The angels owe all their efficiency and energy to the power of Ciod working in them ; but the Son's efficiency is underived and independent. (5.) The angels' authority of adminis- tration and rule is derived and temporary ; but the Son's throne is eternal. (6.) The angels' joys in their reward are measured ; but the Son's are boundless. Apart from these points, five things must be here noted. 1. The Son is expressly called God. We have already remarked, the word Elohim used here by the Psalmist, is never applied absolutely in scripture, to any but the true God. Hence obviously, here is a direct and unequivocal assertion of the true and proper divinity of Christ ; as John affirms, " This is the true God and eternal life." 1 Jno. v. 20. Of course, therefore, those who ever labor to reduce the Saviour to a mere fallible man, must find some way to 48 COMMENTARY OX THE pervert this language from its obvious and manifest mean- ing. Some deny the v jrd God to be in the vocative ease, as in our translation — O God, as spoken to ; but affirm it to be in the nominative, thus, "God is thy throne" — mean- ing, that God upholds Messiah in his government. But now, throne is the symbol of ruling power — of sovereignty ; and the Hebrew word rendered into Greek, by ihronos, is never used for an ordinary seat ; but is the proper term for the seat of supreme power — the symbol of royalty. Thus God is converted into a symbol ; and this in the face of the most obvious and natural construction. Besides, if Theos is the subject or nominative of the verb — God is thy throne — then it must be the subject throughout, and the attributes of the kingdom should be God's — the sceptre should be God's — the kingdom is God's. But such is not the fact : the sceptre and kingdom etc. are still the Son's, still imply- ing that the throne is his. 2. The sovereignty, symbolized by throne, is everlasting — forever and ever. The same we have in Isa. ix. 7 : "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth and forever." So in Dan. vii. 14 : " His do- minion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed." No language of man can more strongly express the perma- nence and perpetuity of Messiah's reign. Let now those who deny his divinity and affirm him to be only and merely a man, tell us how a mere man can have and hold an ever- lasting dominion — a kingdom that shall know no end. 3. The attributes of this eternal kingdom — " the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness." Here is a little difference from the psalm, in the words — "is a right sceptre :" the sense however is the same. As throne is the EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 49 symbol of supreme ruling power ; so sceptre represents actual government — the application of law to regulate the conduct of men. The rod in Moses' hand at Horeb was probably the type of royal sceptres. By it he first learned the sovereign power of God, When he cast it down, it be- came a serpent and he fled from it; showing that mere power is an object of terror. When he in faith extended his hand and took it up, it became a harmless rod ; show- ing that faith in God who establishes government among men and nations, makes supreme power no longer terrible but desirable. Messiah's kingdom is characterized by right- eousness. Jeremiah (xxiii. 5) speaks of this king under the name of a righteous Branch from David's root — " And a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute justice and judgment in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely : and this is the name, whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness." Ac- cordingly, this divine administration never relaxes justice, even when it dispenses mercy. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne : mercy and truth shall go be- fore thy face." Ps. Ixxxix. 14. And again, "Mercy and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other — Righteousness shall go before him ; and shall set us in the way of his steps." Ps. Ixxxv. 10, 13. "Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid ; yea, we establish the law." Rom. iii. 31. " Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matt. v. 17. When Jesus saves his people, he does it by fulfilling all the righteousness of the law, perceptive and penal ; its requirements are all com- plied with ; so that God can be just, whilst he is the justifier of them which believeth in Jesus. Rom. iii. 26. 4. The Spirit testifies as to the root of this rectitude in Messiah's kingdom. This is found in the heart of the King 5 50 COMMENTARY OX THE himself; " Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity." The purity and rectitude of the administration have no ex- traneous and sinister purposes to subserve ; as is too often the case with governments in merely human hands. This King is subject to his own law, for out of himself the law issues and all the attributes of his being are in accordance thereto. The will of the sovereign, made known to the sub- jects for that purpose, is law ; and Jesus came " not to do mine own will — but my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." Love to men, love to God, love to holiness, righteousness and truth ; and, conse- quently, hatred toward all that would counteract this love, shines forth in his whole life, at his death and resurrection : and continues characteristic of his government ; and will so continue for ever and ever. 5. That holy obedience shall be followed by happiness as its reward, is the fundamental idea of moral government. Sweep this away, and the universe becomes at once, a chaos worse than materialistic — a chaos of matter and spirit, of motion and mind, of intelligence and brute force : we can- not say, of virtue and vice, for this implies a distinction which the besom of moral destruction has for ever swept away. But if this basis of morality abides unshaken ; then, from the perfection of Messiah's kingdom and its origin in his love of righteousness and truth, it must necessarily fol- low, that with his work before him, his reward must be with him. " Therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." This inference is beautifully logical : and is substantially the same as the apostle presents in Phil. ii. 5-11 — "he humbled himself and became obedient until death — Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name — " But let us attend to particu'ars. (1.) God here, is the Father, as presiding over the EPLSTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 51 economy of redemption. The covenant in eternity — the covenant of grace between the Father and the Son, referred to Eph. i. 4, 5 is the ground, as it were, of the Father's action here. " According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love ; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his w'ill." (2.) In pursuance of this covenant, the Son must assume humanity and the Father bestow it on him ; as stated in Ps. xl. 6 — " Mine ears hast thou opened " which in Heb. x. 5, is translated, " a body hast thou prepared me." So the Word Avas made flesh : he took on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. (3.) His other qualifications are expressed by the anoint- ing of the Holy Spirit at his induction to office, as we have already briefly noted, and must still farther hereafter. (4.) This anointing with the oil of gladness, is different ; we might say, is in contrast. The former, " like that literal anointing by the hand of Mary, was unto his painful labors and trials and sufferings even unto death and burial. But this unto joy and felicity — the consequence of his having finished his work." This was, as it were, the solemn inau- guration of the Son of God into the possession of his eternal throne — the day of heaven's jubilee, when he returned to re-occupy his vacated throne, adorned anew with the fresh glory of redeeming love. A jubilee, when understood, to the church below ; to the spirits of the just made perfect ; to the angelic hosts who had witnessed the humiliation of the manger, the cross, the tomb : who now escort the victorious conqueror to the gates of glory and the throne of light. A day this, when the joys of heaven were doubled, and the Spirit came down and anointed the church below for its blessed work. 52 COMMENTARY ON THE (5.) Note the relative measure — "above thy fellows:" not equals; but partakers in common of this joy, though in inferior degree, as their capacity enabled them. " Did not our hearts burn within us ?" " Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." All the joy of his people consists in their partaking of this oil of gladness. Above and beyond his fellow-participants is the Son anointed : in kind they agree ; in degree they differ. Let the reader be again reminded of the mediatorial character of the Son. As God, he could not be exalted either in power or glory or felicity ; but as God and man — as Mediator he can be pro- moted in all these respects. V.v. 10, 11, 12. These are taken from Ps. cii. 25-27 and are exactly copied from the old Greek translation — the LXX. The Psalm refers to the last days, or times of Messiah. This is evident from v. 13-16, and 18 and 22, which are prophetic, " Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion. — So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory : — the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. When the people are gath- ered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord." But if this internal evidence were wanting, the fact of Paul's quoting it in arguments addressed to Hebrews, shows that it was admitted by them to refer to the promised Son of David ; or then, our Apostle committed a great blunder, in offering evidence which he knew they would reject. And this is true of all the other passages. No lawyer would offer a witness or a document, which he knew the Court would refuse to admit because of irrelevancy or of incom- petency. That modern Jews have denied many of the scri^ tures referring to Messiah, which their ancestors re- ceived as Messianic, is easily proved ; but their denial can- not shut off the internal evidences, or annihilate historical facts. EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 53 V. 10. The and, as in vs. 5 and 6, intimates an additional proof text : it is the sixth. " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thine hands." Note (1.) The person ad- dressed Tfiou, Lord : this is borrowed from the preceding verses, it is not in this verse of the psalm. (2.) The time of the action in the psalm, " of old " — at the faces — before — formerly. By the apostle, in the beginning ; with evident reference to Gen. i. 1, and to John i. 1. This proof of Christ's superiority to the angels is under the affirmation of V. 2 " by whom also he made the worlds ;" hence the suitableness of this translation. (3.) " Thou hast founded the earth," is a little briefer and more literal. (4.) " And the heavens are the works of thy hands :" manifestly allud- ing to Gen. i. 1. Thus, creation is affirmed to have been accomplished by the person spoken of and spoken to in this psalm ; and consequently in proof direct of his supreme Godhead, and therefore, of his infinite pre-eminence above the angels. V.v. 11 and 12. " They shall perish ; but thou reraainest; 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." Having exalted the Son of God as the Creator and up- holder of all things, he here compares this Creator with the works of his hands, in regard to their durability, or perma- nent existence. Let us note particulars. 1. "They shall perish." They includes the whole pre- viously mentioned — the earth and the heavens shall perish. This word signifies, not the annihilation of the matters re- ferred to ; but their dissolution ; the separation of their parts into their elements — the entire change of form and structure. The same doctrine is taught in 2 Pet. iii. 10- 12 — "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and 5* 54 COMMENTARY ON THE the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up — all these things shall be dissolved — the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved." In v. 7 he tells us, " the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodl)'^ men." He refers this dissolution to the same Word, who, John assures us, was in the beginning with God, and was God, and all things were made by him ; and without him was not anything made that was made. 2. "But thou remainest." Messiah abideth, the same, yesterday, and to-day, and forever : and He it is that winds up the affairs of the worn-out and dilapidated world which has grown old like a garment that has become useless and is about to be folded up and thrown aside. 3. In contrast with these heavens and this earth, now become worthless as a worn-out vesture, is the fact, that it is Messiah who makes this final disposal of a worn-out uni- verse, and lights the pathway of his redeemed Church to heaven, with the flames of a burning world. But whilst all things are changed under the operation of his almighty hand. He himself remains unchanged and his years shall not fail. How language could be framed, to express more forcibly the transcendent glory and grandeur of the Son, not only above all on earth, but above the angels and all in heaven, it may well be accounted impossible to conceive. His eternal duration and his absolute control, government, and final judgment of the universe — surely these place him infinitely above the angels. Thus the argument accumu- lates mountains high : and thus the way is prepared for the final and Scripture challenge on this point. V. 13. " But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool ?" EPISTI^E TO THE HEBREWS. 55 1. Note the adversative, " But." This intimates opposi- tion of meaning ; yet the proposition to which this is opposed is not expressed ; it is implied. As if he would say, "God, or the Scriptures, never, on any occasion, at any time, under any circumstances, addressed such language to any angel whatever, however exalted and glorious he may have been — Sit on my right hand : But thus does he address the Son." Thus, the language contains a negative, of the most impera- tive and absolute character in regard to the angels : and an affirmative, of a character equally strong, imperative and absolute in regard to the Son. 2. On V. 4, we have stated the force of the jihrase right hand — the position of highest honor and supremest power : " He sat down — took his seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high :" universal dominion belongs to the Man of Calvary, because he is heir and Lord of the universe. 3. This is quoted from Ps. ex. 2 ; from which more fre- quent and important quotations are made, than from any equal portion of the Old Testament. A divine interpreter assures us that it is Messianic. Matt. xxii. 42-45 : " What think ye of Christ — Messiah ? Whose son is he ? They say unto him, The Son of David, He saith unto them. How then doth David in Spirit call him Lord, saying. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son ?" See also the parallel cases, Mark xii. 35, etc., Luke xx. 41, etc.. Acts ii. 34, 85. And Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 25-28 argues that Christ must reign until all his enemies — all things be put under his feet — then shall the Son also himself be subject, etc. So our Lord's argument with the Pharisees, and also Peter's, assumes, — does not assert, but is stronger than a mere assertion ; for in assuming that the Psalm applies to the Messiah, he obtains their admission to it. Both our 56 CO-MMENTAIIY ON THE Lord's and Peter's argument were in public, in the face of the scribes and Pharisees — the learned doctors, and there- fore, their not contradicting him concedes the point. " No man was able to answer him a word." But now, if they could have denied that the psalm was spoken of Messiah and sustained their denial, they would have swept away the foundation of his argument and gained a complete triumph. The ancient Jews never denied this: its denial is a rejection of Christ and the whole New Testament dis- pensation— an invention which proves the hardihood and unblushing effrontery of modern infidelity. We shall meet other quotations anon : meanwhile let us pass to the expo- sition of this ; and, 4. The command, Sit, in the English and Greek taken from the LXX., does not fully express all that may be sug- gested by the Hebrew. A slight yet beautiful and not unim- portant shade of meaning, is not thrown upon the canvas. The Hebrew word used by the Psalmist, suggests not only the taking and occupying of the honored seat ; but is retro- spective ; it implies a previous right and occupancy, as if He should say. Re-seat thyself: return and re-occupy the throne, which, for a little while and for a glorious purpose, thou hast vacated. Having laid aside thy sceptre and thy robes of eternal royalty, and veiled thy divinity in human flesh ; and having accomplished the mission on which I sent thee, until thou didst say, " It is finished ;" and having burst the mortal bondage of the grave. Return, Thou only- begotten and well-beloved, arrayed in all the glory thou didst lay aside, and all the superadded glory of revealing mercy to the universe of intelligent beings ; Return and re- occupy thy throne, and vindicate the rights of thy glorious crown ; and there abide until all thine enemies shall bow down as a footstool of thy feet. " The form of the Hebrew word here used is identical EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 57 in its letters with the word to return, as the following pas- sages show : Ps. cxvi. 7, " Return unto thy rest, O my soul." Isa Iv. 7 — " Let him return unto the Lokd" — Hosea vi. 1, " Let us return unto the Lord," etc, and vii. 10, and xiv. 1, 2. Moreover the drift of the psalm shows its reference to times subsequent to Christ's exaltation. " The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Ziou — he shall judge among the heathen." And its coincidence with the second psalm shows its reference to post-resurrection times. " This, says Alexander, is the counterpart of the Second Psalm, com- pleting the prophetic picture of the conquering Messiah." How beautiful the logic by which he proves his position, that Christ — the Messiah of the Hebrew scriptures, is so much better than the angels! And how pertinent and forceful the general appeal by Avhich he closes it up. V. 14. " Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" 1. Here observe first, the form of expression is the same as in the preceding verse : the strong affirmation : the bold appeal to gainsayers for facts and doctrines which they could not for a moment deny. As if he would say, 'You know, brethren, this is the old and universally received doctrine in Israel. From the day when the angel's voice from heaven stayed the uplifted hand and deadly knife, saying — " Lay not thine hand upon the lad " — until the angel that talked with and instructed Zechariah, their min- istry has been recognized among the true Israelites.' 2. The characteristic feature of their ministrations here pointed out, is merciful — for, on account, to promote the advantage of God's children. And as to the children, so more especially to the elder Brother, the angels have a special charge. This verse is not a quotation, but a general reference to established doctrines. In Ps. xci. 11, it" is dis- tinctly stated in reference to our Lord ; " He shall give his 58 COMMENTARY ON THE angels charge over — concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways," etc. But what is there special as to Christ, is, in principle applicable to all his people. " Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his command- ments, hearkening to the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, (armies) ye ministei's of his, that do his pleasure." Ps. ciii. 20, 21. 3. But whilst it is true, that their ministrations are mainly for the protection and comfort of God's redeemed, they necessarily have a different relation to others. For very often the salvation of Zion is a result of the destruc- tion of her enemies. The same angel of the Lord — the uncreated angel Redeemer, that encamps round about them that fear him, wields his omnipotence in crushing his and their enemies. So the created angels that do his command- ments have terrible orders to fulfil, as for example, in the night of Egypt's wailings, when there was not a house in which the first-born did not lie dead. And in the night of vengeance upon the Assyrian camp, when the angel of the Lord went out and smote down to death "an hundred, four score and five thousand :'' 2 Kings xix. 35. 4. Yet mighty as are these liturgical spirits, they are all sent forth under orders ; and are in perfect subjection to the authority above them ; and that is none other but the Son of God in human nature — the Messiah. And thus closes the argument for the superiority of our Lord over the angels, who were the higliest agency em- ployed in the establishment and conduct of the Old Testa- ment dispensation. " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place." Ps. Ixviii. And Ste- phen, Acts vii. 53, assures us they received the law through the disposition — along the ranks of angels. We may note further the fact, without professing ability to account for it, EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS^ 59 that all the seven quotations in proof are from the Psalms, except the second. Why? Is it because they are more clearly doctrinal than the other scriptures ? Is it because they embody the essence of all practical religion? Or is it because, being more constantly used in worship, they were more familiar, better known and appreciated by the people ? Whether any or all these are sufficient to account for the fact or not, this lesson most assuredly ought to be received from the fact ; viz.. The church should very highly appre- ciate the book of Psalms and by no means exclude these heaven-inspired hymns from the matter of her praise. She should never so cultivate and improve music, as to silence David's harp and to suspend singing in the family and drive it from the church into the organ loft. Before proceeding further with the text, it may be profit- able to note a few things, by way of general remark or inference from our discussion of the argument for the pre- eminence of Christ above the angels. 1. It is the rule of all holy obedience everywhere, through- out God's whole world, that all His rational creatures shall glorify the Son. The spirits of light and redeemed men are bound to this service ; each, however, in their own proper sphere. Angelic hosts do glorify him, as bound, because he is Lord Ci'eator and Governor over them and the object of their supreme adoration. All men, holy and unholy, are equally bound to serve and obey him ; but actually all sanc- tified men do worship the Son. They who withhold this worship blaspheme his holy name ; and there is an eternal line of distinction between blasphemy and worship. The denial of his Godhead and the worship due to Him, is the highest possible crime. Because " God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 60 COMMENTARY ON THE earth : and that every tongue should confess, that Jesug Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. ii. 9-11. " For the Father judgeth no man ; but hath com- mitted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." John v. 22, 23. " Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is Messiah ! he is Antichrist that de- nieth the Father and the Sou. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." 1 John ii. 22, 23. This follows by necessity : for father and son are relative terras : if there is no father there is no sou : the one implies the other. 2. For aught we know, all intelligent creatures in God's universe are anxious spectators of his system of grace and scheme of providence, carrying on in this world of ours. Little comparatively as is our earth, it may be — though we do not affirm it, yet no man can presume to say it cannot be so — it may be, that the dispensation of God's mercy and grace in this world of ours, may be the means of confirming millions of worlds in eternal happi- ness : not of redeeming their inhabitants, but of confirming them, by giving evidence of the inflexible righteousness and eternal justice of God. To this idea the Apostle seems to refer in Eph. i. 10. " That in the dispensation of the full- ness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." And in iii. 10 — " that now unto the princi- palities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God " — By the church here is meant, the instrumental agency — the medium through which intelligence is communicated to the angels of light. The attributes of Jehovah displayed in the work of man's redemption, are made known through the church's EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 61 agency, to the principalities and powers in heavenly places. These glorious spirits, always in waiting before the throne of Messiah, learn of Him, through the church below, the hitherto inscrutable mysteries of redemption and the com- binations of His love and mercy, justice and righteousness ; and then dart off with their messages, away to the distant worlds scattered over the boundless expanse of his domin- ions. These messengers of Messiah study man to learn the glory of their God. 3. There is a progression in the development of these mysteries of mercy and justice. Several eras may be noted. (1.) When the first-fruits of Messiah's purchase from sin and I'escue from pollution arrived at the gates of glory, the inhabitants of the heavenly world were all stirred up and eagerly inquired, ' Will he be admitted ? Can a spirit, once polluted and now expelled from a polluted body by the hand of a fratricidal assassin — can such an one be re- ceived into this holy liabitation ? Can we associate with such on terms of equality?' Abel's reception marks the first era : a spirit once polluted, now pure ; but how ? This question exercises angelic bosoms, and is unsolved ; when (2.) A second advent and under different circumstances gives a new turn of thought and surmise. Enoch, arrayed in a spiritual body enters the realms of eternal day. Thus were the heavenly host furnished with a faint glimpse at the glorified body, which they were hereafter to behold on his throne and to accompany down to this earth whence his body is derived, that they may witness the grand scene of his final judgment. (3.) Moses was probably the third mark of an era. If, as is probable from the facts on the mount of transfiguration, he arose from the dead, he was the first called away from the house of temporary imprisonment, to mingle with angels and spirits innumerable of just men made perfect. 62 COMMENTARY ON THE Clirist indeed is called the first-fruits of them that slept ; but not as being the iirst human body that arose from the state of the dead. Lazarus and the widow's son preceded him. But He was the first-fruits, in the sense of the supe- rior— the more excellent. Thus there is a progression in the character, as well as the number of heavenly inhabit- ants; until the Lord of glory himself graced his divine throne with the majesty of his own effulgent glory. (4.) This marks the fourth illustrious era ; exhibits hu- manity in its highest possible form, short of the beatific vision, wherein eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered the heart of man to conceive the glory that shall be revealed in us and to us. What w'e shall be we know not ; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 4. This progress must continue, both as it regards num- bers and excellent properties. Heaven is not stationary. How different must it have been when Elijah entered it in his car of fire, from what it was when Abel first trod the golden streets? From this how different, when the ever- lasting doors were lifted up and the King of glory entered ? And then, the progress in holiness and happiness of the myriads of millions, redeemed and unredeemed, how it outstrips imagination ; and how the powers of the soul flag, when the finite labors to grasp the infinite? Who shall attempt to set bounds and limits to glories and felicities of the heavenly world ? 5. There is no display of God's mercy any where, at the expense of his righteousness. " A God all mercy is a God unjust." They who hope to purchase heaven by a mere act of indemnity, cherish a hope that shall make them ashamed. Is there any need of stronger proof than we have seen, that salvation by free grace is favorable to the interests of right- eousness, than that the author of it lovcth righteousness EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 63 and hatetli iniquity? Those very men, who, rejecting the vicarious atonement, will have mercy at the sacrifice of jus- tice, are most pertinacious in denying the necessity of mercy at all. 6. One more remark and we shall then proceed to the infer- ence of the next chapter and the proofs in support of it. It is, that the enhancement of Messiah's glory, in the fore- going discussion, regards his Kingly office. These six tes- timonies of Scripture exalt the Son of God and anoint him King on the holy hill of Zion, and call upon all kings to serve and obey Him. CHAPTER II. Verses 1-4. " Therefore we ought to give the more earn- est heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." We have here an inference, based on the preceding, and containing, for the first time, a distinct avowal of his grand design. He forewarns them of the danger of apostasy from the faith of the gospel ; and thereby forearms them against it. He is more directly practical in this than in any of his Epistles. As a wise master builder, he lays his foundation of doctrine on the rock of eternal truth, and follows it up closely, with an application : and in such a manner as to call for supporting it with further reasons equally cogent. Having demonstrated most abundantly the superiority of King Messiah above the angelic hosts, he gives this as the reason why these testimonies ought to be most diligently treasured up and studied : and then, in subsequent verses enforces this inference by pointing out the danger of disregarding it. Let us note the danger ; the way to obviate it ; and the obligation to do so. 1. The danger. To disregard his instructions is to de- spise and ofteud the teacher. God spake by his prophets, whom he sent with his message : if we refuse to hear them we insult, not the messenger only, but the Master himself. To contemn the ambassador is to insult his Sovereign. God speaks to us by his angels; contemptuous treatment of these more exalted servants, is a still higher offence. God speaks to us by his Ron ; surely tlie words from his mouth cannot be contemned or even neglected, without greatly aggravated 64 EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 65 turpitude. This sin may spring from lassitude, from world- ly-mindedness, from hostile feeling. But the language before us scarcely implies these. " Lest at any time we should let them slip." The allusion is to a leaky vessel, into which water is introduced, but whence it glides away as it were unperceived. Such, to a sad degree, is the ease with many hearers of the gospel in our day. They attend the sanctuary, and lo, the pi'eacher is " unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument, for they hear his words, but they do them not." Or, perchance they do not even hear his words ; attention, which is necessary to memory, is given to some- thing else — the stained glass windows — the beautiful lamps or gas burners which glimmer at noonday to help the sun to overcome the philosophy of windows that shut out the light — the beautiful head dresses and rich flounces. In such cases, the chinks are not to blame ; for the water was never put in and of course could not flow out. The result however is the same — an empty vessel. 2. The method of escaping or obviating this danger — ■ "give the more earnest heed." This calls for (1.) Atfe^i- tion, a prerequisite to memory. All men know that sounds may strike the ear and not be heard. The clock strikes and I hear it not. That is, my attention was not arrested. The percipient mind was giving heed to something else ; consequently nothing actually was thrown into the store- house of memory, by its doorkeeper, attention : and there- fore nothing can be drawn out. (2.) Attention has its own proper antecedent — desire, running out into will. If there is no desire to receive the instructions of wisdom, there can be no attention, and there will be no hearing, no memory of the words heard ; and therefore no ability to call up and ruminate upon the discourse : and so the thunders of Sinai are no more received and retained in the mind, than the 6« 66 COMMENTARY ON THE still small voice : an empty vessel is the result. (3.) Desire implies a feeling of want; a conception of something sup- posed to be capable of relieving the want ; and the out- going of the mind after tliat thing. Until therefore a man feels tliat something is needed to secure his happiness, he will not bestir himself. But let the light of the law shine in upon his soul; and conviction follows; he perceives his danger and inquires what he must do to be saved. But we are here concerned rather with professed believers, than with sinners in general. Professors' poverty in religious knowledge and consequent danger, are owing, not to lack of means of instruction hut to want of diligence in their use. Believing that much study is a weariness to the flesh, they excuse themselves and abide content with the bare and vague hope tliat they have an interest in the great sal- vation. The onward movement toward perfection does not secure their attention ; scarcely attracts their notice. Earnest heed, intense study they leave to others. Indeed, not a little of this censure is perhaps due to the ministry. There is more anxiety ajiparent to increase the number of jewels, than to polish and make them fit to be set in the Master's crown. To the conversion of sinners, rather than to the ediiication of saints, is given the more earnest heed. Far from us be the wish to check the former. Let converts be multiplied as the morning dew; and to this end let preaching of the law be penetrating as the barbed arrow: but let it not be forgotten, that the growth of church mem- bers into holy conformity with her Master's likeness, is an indispensable and most eflicient means of grace : and that this growth depends on and results from the constant and faithful study of the divine oracles. 3. This remedy prophylactic it is our duty to apply — " we ought," — it is becoming, fit, obligatory on us, the more earnestly to give attention to the things heard. The word EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 67 rendei'ed ought is formed from one that signifies to hind — to make fast: and so it expresses moral obligation: as Rom. viii. 26 and xii. 3, 1 Cor. viii. 2, and 2 Cor. ii. 3. In this last it expresses the obligation on the Corinthian believers so to act as to aiford him occasion to rejoice. If this obligation to hearken to the words spoken, to mix them with faith and practice them in the life, be disregarded and the majesty of the Son of God thus insulted — if men refuse to study the things which make for their eternal peace ; and thus let the glorious message, heralded by men and angels and the Lord of glory himself, pass away from their minds and leave no abiding impressions on their hearts and lives — then must they in due time meet their i-esponsi- bilities and endure such vengeance as their most aggra- vating transgressions deserve. To arouse their souls to a due appreciation of their peril, the Apostle proceeds to con- struct an argument from the less to the greater. The prin- ciple of this argument is universally admitted ; viz., that moral responsibility is in proportion to privileges. This maxim is beautifully illustrated by the parable of the talents. Our Apostle applies it in Rom. ii. 12 : " For as many as have sinned without law — without the revealed law — the written revelation — shall also perish without law ; and as many as have sinned in the law — under the light of revelation — shall be judged by the law." In other words, as privileges are multiplied responsibility increases. Your privileges and mine, my Hebrew brethren, are exceedingly enhanced — they are much beyond those of your fatliers, hold fast therefore and improve more abundantly your superior light. V. 2. " For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ; which at first began to be spoken by the 68 COMMENTARY ON THE Lord, and was coiifinned unto us by tliem that heard him ; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and won- ders, and with diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." The causal particle For, intimates a reason in support of the foregoing dehortation and is too plain to need further ex])lanation. The conditional word, if, is not designed to express a doubt, as to whether the word spoken by angels was stead- fast : but rather intimates a very liigh degree of confidence and a universal concession on the part of the persons ad- dressed. As if he would say, " You know, my Brethren, that under the Old Testament dispensation, the connection between sin and punishment was indissoluble. Full proof of wrong-doing was always required, but when this was made out and the crime proved indubitably, then justice was administered without sale, denial or delay. Now if these things are so, how much more rigidly should the just demands of the law be exacted from those who sin under the clearer light and encouraging revelations of the New Testament?" " The word spoken by angels." Word here means the doctrines, though Logos be used ; and not the personal w'ord ; nor yet the executive word (Jiremci) ; but the doctrines com- municated by angels. But how spoken by angels f It marks the medium agency — through the angels. The refer- ence is to the ministration of angels, chiefly at Sinai : chiefly, but not excluding other angelic instrumentalities, as to ]\Ianoah and his wife, as to Balaam, as to Abraham, as to Gideon, etc. But, as the Jews have always held, the grand instance of Angelic liturgy or service, was at Sinai. Stephen Acts vii. 52, when he charges home upon his persecutors, their crowning sin against " the just One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, Who received EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 69 the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it," hands us the key of the passage — " by the disposition," — in or along the ranks of angels. The Greek word means rows of persons drawn up as it were rank and file. From Stephen we recur to Ps. Ixviii. 17, previously cited. David describes the prosperity of Zion and the glory of her King. " The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan — the Lord will dwell in it forever. The chariots of God are twenty thou- sand, even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place." Thus there were angels innumerable in Sinai ; for David is a prophet and God in him speaks, although in no other prophet did he speak or write down this fact of the angels' presence in Sinai. More- over, the Lord that was in Sinai among these myriads of angels, is the Jehovah ; and this Jehovah in the Second Person ; the same who is spoken of in Ps. ii., of whom Jeho- vah in the First Person declares the decree, " Yet have I set — anointed my King ujjon my holy hill of Zion." Still farther proof of this identity is found in v. 18. " Thou hast ascended on high : thou hast led captivity captive, etc." Now compare this with its quotation and use in Eph. iv. 8-13. " Wlierefore he — the scripture saith. When he as- cended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, etc." Thus undeniably is it established, that the law (and the system built upon it at Sinai) is here meant, and of it the stability is affirmed. It had already stood more than fifteen and an half centuries and witnessed the evanishment of all other systems of law and order; and the governments which consisted in their execution had all passed away. But Messiah's throne is forever and ever, for it was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator. But now the steadfastness of this doctrine — the stability and strength of this law — is manifested in the energy of its operation, by which every transgression — every act by 70 COMMENTARY ON THE which the law is crossed ; and disobedience — not hearing, meets its just punishment, its rewarding compensation, ac- cording to eternal right. The former of* these terras — trans- gression may be designed to refer to law proper, as distin- guished from evangelical matter. For be it remembered the Levitical laws, or positive, ceremonial institutions, are almost entirely evangelical: that is, they are types of Christ and of christian doctrines and gospel ordinances. The lat- ter term — disobedience — simply and literally not hearing, most likely has special reference to evangelical truth, of which no trace can be found in the human mind by nature ; but it is all by divine inspiration and addressed to the sinner and claims the obedient ear. Not that there was no mercy ; for it was a dispensation of grace, a merciful covenant. The continual sacrifices were a visible display of the doctrine of remission of sins through the blood of atonement typified by the flaming altar. But a just recom- pense was visited for all sins that struck directly at the existence of the dispensation itself and the vitals of its theology. So there were sins for which there were no sacri- ficial offerings and no pardon. Against civil society, for example, murder was not pardonable. "Thou shalt take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death ; but he shall surely be put to death.'" Num. xxxv. 31. So also the sins of blasphemy and idolatry were capital. Lev. xxiv. 15, 16. " Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death." " Cursed be the man that maketh any graven image " — and for the idolatry of the golden calf, '' there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." See Kxod. xxxii. If for such trangressions they died without mercy under two or three witnesses " how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ?" 1. Note the form of expression : it is after Paul's Socratic I EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 71 method — an interrogation, involving a strong negation — ■ there is no possibility — no method by which we can fiy from our perilous condition. There is allusion here to the perpetrator of manslaughter, fleeing before the avenger of blood. Various roads lead to the city of refuge, and by vigilant activity he may peradventure evade His pursuer and reach the gate and escape the blow of his pursuer. But God is the avenger of those who despise his law and reject his gospel, and from his allsearehing eye there is no concealment ; and from the blow of his avenging sword there is no evasion. 2. " Salvation" here includes the entire system of gracious doctrines — Bedemption by the payment of a price — a ran- som— the satisfaction rendered to divine justice by Christ's bearing our sins in his own body on the tree ; suffering the just for the unjust, which sufferings he, as our vicarious substitute endured for us. This results to us from the pre- existent covenant of grace, whereby, in eternity, he as our Surety pledged to the Father that in the fullness of time — when the stipulated hour should come, he would pay the bond — the Lutron or redemption price to the last drop. Now we must keep it in mind, that these vicarious sufferings of Christ, and these only, can secure the souls of his people — all whom the Father hath given to him he hath kept — for them he prays and not for the world, John xvii. " Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." Acts iv. 12. 3. Righteousness, the second grand idea of Salvation, is conformity with law. " Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. iii. 15. And in this sense " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that be- lieveth." Rom. x. 4. End of laxo here is the completer, the fulffller of all law, ceremonial and moral. " He of God 72 COMMENTARY ON THE is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption." 1 Cor. i. 30. "And this is the name ■whereby he shall be called The Lord our Rkjutkousness." Jer. xxiii. 6. To holy obedience, which is righteousness, and to nothing else are life and happiness and heaven prom- ised. But man failed and the curse came. ]\Ian did not obey and the blessing is not and cannot, by mere man, be secured. But man iu the Mediator and Surety, has com- pleted this fulfilment, and secured the positive blessedness due and promised to holy obedience. Christ's death snatches us from death — his sufferings in our stead, as our Surety, deliver us from the curse of the law, but do not merit heaven for us. This is done by his life of holy obedience. But neither do these complete the idea of salvation, therefore, — He is made Sanctification; wq must be holy personally or we cannot be truly happy. The work of our sanctification begins in regeneration by his Holy Spirit ; who is sent to create us anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath foreordained that we should walk in them. Now this mission of the Spirit is a consequence of Christ's obedience until death and inclusive of death. " It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away — (if I do not en- dure the curse due to your sin) — the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart I will send him unto you." John xvi. 7. Hence the folly and madness of the sup- position, that free grace salvation leads to licentiousness : "do we then make void the law through faith? Yea we establish the law." Rom. iii. 31. 4. Note the magnitude of this Salvation. It is pointed to by an indefinite expression — ^