Then the author goes on to speak of the great superiority of this new redemption and economy, this high priesthood of Jesus in heaven and his heavenly service, to anything that could possibly exist upon the earth, where the priesthood could continue only a little while by reason of death. Here we have One who is made priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life, and therefore, not for a day, nor for a few days, but forever and forever, living to make intercession for us. If he who is the one great Priest, of whom the Old Testament priests were only types, has come at last, why, the Old Testament priests may go, we need them no longer. Christ abides; he is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Then the latter portion of the Epistle is a practical part, which draws the inference that, if these things be true, then the one duty of every Christian is to hold fast to Christ, and to let the Old Testament dispensation, with its types and its symbols, pass away into forgetfulness.

The beginning of this practical part is that long catalogue of the heroes of faith, those worthies of the Old Testament that had been true to God, in spite of all manner of temptation, persecution, and danger, and who furnish for us models for the faith of the New Testament. Since Jesus, our forerunner, has entered into the heavenly sanctuary, we are to follow him, running the race that is set before us, "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God." So the practical

part of the Epistle succeeds and supplements the doctrinal part, and impresses its applications upon us.

Three things may be said with regard to this Epistle, all of which are points of general interest, aside from the general course of thought which I have mentioned. The first is this, that the Epistle to the Hebrews sets before us Jesus Christ as an absolute, unique, and divine High Priest, ordained to transact with God for us, as the one High Priest, of whom the Old Testament high priests were only the types and symbols. That is the first great thought of the Epistle to the Hebrews. We have such a High Priest who has entered into the heavenly sanctuary. Let us, therefore, go boldly to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace to help us in our times of need. This High Priest is one with God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person; but he is one with us also. No other passage of the New Testament presents to us the human side of our sympathizing High Priest as this does. He took upon himself our nature; was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin; and, for that reason, he is able to sympathize with us, and succor us when we are tempted. There is no more beautiful or pathetic passage than this in the whole Bible.

The second great lesson which the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches is that of the brotherly relation which the Lord Jesus Christ sustains to us. He is not only God, but also man; our elder brother is upon the throne; our elder brother is interceding for us in the heavenly sanctuary. Since this High Priest is both God and man, since there unites in him all that can

make high-priesthood perfect, this high-priestly service is the final one. No greater revelation than this is ever to be expected from God; it is the last revelation of God to man; it is the most perfect disclosure of the love and justice of the King on high. Therefore, Christianity is not one of many revelations; it is not to be put side by side with Buddhism or Confucianism, as if there were only some good in it, just as there is some good in them; but Christianity is the one and only revelation, of which all these others are only faint foreshadowings. Here, in Christianity, we see brought to a focus all those scattered rays that shone dimly amid the darkness of the heathen world. All that is good in heathenism is found in Christianity, and infinitely more. Christianity is the one and final revelation of God to man.

So there follows the third and last great lesson. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh "; for, if he that rejecteth the Old Testament dispensation did not escape, of what punishment shall he be thought worthy who has trodden under his feet the blood of the Son of God, and has put his Saviour to an open shame?

Nowhere in the whole New Testament do we find such solemn warnings against apostasy as we find here in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The apostle has set before us the exceeding glory of this new dispensation. He has shown us that it is an absolute, complete, and final thing, the last word that God has spoken or that God can speak to man. Let us be sure that we do not turn our backs upon him. Let us be sure that, having come to a knowledge of the truth, we do not turn away from it, and forget what we have learned, to the

destruction of our souls. Let us accept the warning, let us go on in the Christian course. Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection. In his warning against apostasy, the apostle does not mean us to understand that any that have once experienced the real grace of God shall ever be left to fall away to their own destruction. He says to these very persons: "Brethren, I am persuaded better things of you, even although we thus speak." Yet it is very needful for the perseverance of the saints that these warnings be given. Only by appreciating the greatness of our danger, and the necessity of our persevering in holiness, shall we be kept from falling away. Let us endure, therefore, to the end, in order that we may be saved.

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES

THREE persons named James are mentioned in the New Testament, and it has been a question which of these persons was the author of our Epistle. Some have thought that the author was James, the brother of John and the son of Zebedee; but this seems quite impossible, because he suffered martyrdom in the year 44, before the dispersion of the Jewish Christians which is mentioned in its opening words. It was after this James, the brother of John, was slain, and largely because of his death, that members of the church fled from Jerusalem and made their way beyond the bounds of Palestine. When the apostle James died they had not yet gotten even so far as Antioch, and it was consequently impossible then to write to the twelve tribes of Christians who were scattered abroad, as the author of this Epistle does. The apostle James, moreover, could hardly have been the author, for the reason that before his death the internal organization of the Christian church was not so perfectly developed as it appears to have been in this Epistle.

The indications are far more favorable to the view that the author of the Epistle is James, our Lord's brother, the oldest of those brothers of our Lord with whom we meet so frequently in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles. There were four of these, James, and Joses, Simon and Judas, and there were sisters belonging to the family also.