suffers for the Lord with the discipline by which the flesh is mortified. For example, Paul's thorn in the flesh united these two things. It was painful to him in the exercise of his ministry; for it was something that tended to make him contemptible when preaching; and this he endured for the Lord's sake; but at the same time it kept his flesh in check.

Ver. 9. Now we are subject to our natural parents who discipline us after their own will, how much more then to the Father of Spirits who makes us partakers of His own holiness. Observe here, the grace that is appealed to. We have seen how much the Hebrews needed warning; their tendency to fail in the career of faith; the means of preventing this is, doubtless, not to spare the warning, but yet to bring the soul fully into connection with grace.

We are not come to mount Sinai, to the law which makes demands on us, but to Zion, where God manifested His power in re-establishing Israel, by His grace, in the person of the elect king, when-as to the responsibility of the people-all was entirely lost, all relationship with God impossible on that footing; for the ark was lost, there was no longer a mercy-seat, no longer a throne of God among the people. Ichabod was written on Israel.

Therefore, in speaking of holiness he says, God is active in love towards you, even in your very sufferings. It is He who has not only given free access to Himself by the blood, and by the presence of Christ in heaven for us; but who is continually occupied with all the details of your life, whose hand is in all your trials, who thinks unceasingly about you, in order to make you partakers. of His holiness. This is not to require holiness on our part-necessary as it must ever be-it is in order to make us partakers of his own holiness. What immense and perfect grace! What a means!-it is the means by which to enjoy God Himself perfectly.

Ver. 11. God does not expect us to find these exercises of soul pleasant at the moment; they would 'not produce their effect if they were so: but afterwards, the will being broken, they produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The pride of man is brought down,

when he is obliged to submit to that which is contrary to his will. God also takes a larger (ever precious) place in his thoughts and in his life.

Ver. 12. On the principle, then, of grace, the Hebrews are exhorted to encourage themselves in the path of faith, and to watch against the buddings of sin among them, whether in yielding to the desires of the flesh, or in giving up Christian privileges for something of the world. They were to watch so courageously that their evident joy and blessing (which is always a distinct testimony and one that triumphs over the enemy) should make the weak feel that it was their own assured portion also; and thus strength and healing would be ministered to them. instead of discouragement. The path of godliness as to circumstances was thus made easy, a beaten path to weak and lame souls, and they would feel more than stronger souls the comfort and value of such a path.

Grace, we have already said, is the motive given for this walk; but grace is here presented in a form that requires to be considered a little in detail.

There the

We are not come, it says, to Mount Sinai. terrors of the majesty of God kept man at a distance. No one was to approach Him. Even Moses feared and trembled at the presence of Jehovah. This is not where the Christian is brought. But, in contrast with such relationships as these with God, the whole millennium state in all its parts is developed; according, however, to the way in which these different parts are now known as things hoped for. We belong to it all; but evidently these things are not yet established. Let us name them: Sion; the heavenly Jerusalem; the angels and general assembly; the Church of the first-born, whose names are inscribed in heaven; God the Judge of all; the spirits of the just made perfect; Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant; and, finally, the blood of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Sion we have spoken of as a principle. It is the intervention of sovereign grace (in the king) after the ruin, and in the midst of the ruin, of Israel, re-establishing the people, according to the counsels of God in glory, and their relationships with God Himself. It is

the rest of God on the earth, the seat of the Messiah's royal power. But, as we know, the extent of the earth is far from being the limit of the Lord's inheritance. Sion on earth is Jehovah's rest; it is not the city of the living God; the heavenly Jerusalem is that- the heavenly capital, so to speak, of His kingdom, the city that has foundations, whose founder and builder is God Himself.

Having named Sion below, the author turns naturally to Jerusalem above; but this carries him into heaven and he finds himself with all the people of God, in the midst of a multitude of angels; the great universal assembly of the invisible world. There is, however, one peculiar object on which his eye rests in this marvellous and heavenly scene. It is the church of the first-born whose names are inscribed in heaven. They were not born there, not indigenous like the angels, whom God preserved from falling. They are the objects of the counsels of God-it is not merely that they reach Heaven, they are the glorious heirs and first-born of God, according to His eternal counsels, in accordance with which they are registered in heaven. The church, the assembly of the objects of grace, belongs to heaven by grace. They are not the objects of the promises-who, not having received the fulfilment of the promises on earth, do not fail to enjoy it in heaven. They have the anticipation of no other country or citizenship than heaven. The promises were not addressed to them. They have no place on earth. Heaven is prepared for them by God Himself Their names are inscribed there by Him. It is the highest place in heaven: above the dealings of God in government, promise, and law, on the earth. This leads the picture of glory on to God Himself, but, (having reached the highest point, that which is most excellent in grace) He is seen under another character, namely, as the Judge of all, as looking down from on high to judge all that is below. This introduces another class of these blessed inhabitants of the heavenly glory: those whom the righteous Judge owned as His, before the Church was revealed the spirits of the just, arrived at perfection. They had finished their course, they had overcome in

conflict, they were waiting only for glory. They had been connected with the dealings of God on the earth, but-faithful before the time for its blessing was comethey had their rest and their portion in heaven.

It was the purpose of God, nevertheless, to bless the earth. He could not do so according to man's responsibility-His people even were but as grass. He would therefore establish a new covenant with Israel, a covenant of pardon, and according to which He would write the law in the hearts of His people. The Mediator of this covenant had already appeared and had done all that was required for its establishment. The saints among the Hebrews were come to the Mediator of the new covenant, blessing was thus prepared for the earth, and secured to it.

Finally, the blood of Christ had been shed on earth, as that of Abel by Cain; but instead of crying from the earth for vengeance, so that Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, (a striking type of the Jew, guilty of the death of Christ), it is grace that speaks, and the shed blood cries to obtain pardon and peace for those who shed it.

It will be observed, that although speaking of the different parts of Millennial blessing, with its foundations, all is given according to the present condition of things, before the coming of that time of blessing from God. We are in it, as to our relationships; but the spirits of the just men of the Old Testament only are here spoken of, and only the Mediator of this new covenant; the covenant itself is not established. The blood cries, but the answer in earthly blessing has not yet come. This is easily understood: it is exactly according to the existing state of things, and even throws considerable light on the position of the Hebrew Christians, and on the doctrine of the epistle. The important thing for them was, that they should not turn away from Him who spoke from heaven. It was with Him they had to do. We have seen them connected with all that went before, with the Lord's testimony on earth; but, in fact, they had to do, at that time, with the Lord Himself as speaking from heaven. His voice then shook the earth;

-but now, speaking with the authority of grace and from heaven, He announced the dissolution of every thing which the flesh could lean upon, or on which the creature could rest its hopes.

How

All that could be shaken should be dissolved. much more fatal to turn away [from Him that speaketh] now, than from the commandments even of Sinai. This shaking of all things (whether here or in the analogous passage in Peter ii.) evidently goes beyond Judaism, but has a peculiar application to it. Judaism was the system and the frame of the relationships of God with men on earth, according to the principle of responsibility on their part. All this was of the first creation, but its springs were poisoned; heaven, the seat of the enemy's power, perverted and corrupted. The heart of man on earth was corrupt and rebellious. God will shake and change all things. The result will be a new creation, in which righteousness shall dwell.

Meanwhile, the first fruits of this new creation were being formed; and, in Christianity, God was forming the heavenly part of the kingdom that cannot be moved; and Judaism-the centre of the earthly system and of human responsibility-was passing away. The apostle, therefore, announces the shaking of all things, that every thing which exists as the present creation shall be set aside. With regard to the present fact, he says only "we receive a kingdom that cannot be moved;" and calls us to serve God with true piety, because our God is a consuming fire. Not as people say-God out of Christ: but our God. This is His character in holy majesty and in righteous judgment of evil.

XIII. In the next chapter, there is more than one truth important to notice. The exhortations are as simple as they are weighty, and require but few remarks. They rest in the sphere in which the whole of the epistle does; what relates to the Christian's path as walking here, not what flows from union with Christ in heavenly places. Brotherly love, hospitality, care for those in bonds, the strict maintenance of the marriage-tie and personal purity, the avoiding of covetousness; such are the subjects of exhortation, all important and con