Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. xii. 1, 2. Abraham offering up Isaac, (xi. 17—19.)—Isaac, (xi. 20.)—Jacob, (xi. 21.)-Joseph, (xi. 22.)-Moses, (xi. 23-27.) p. 198. The keeping of the Passover, (xi. 28.)—Passing of the Red Sea, (xi. 29.)-Fall of Jericho, (xi. 30.)—Preservation of Rahab, (xi. 31.) -with other instances of triumphant and enduring faith, too nume- rous to be noticed, such as those of Barak, Gideon, &c. &c. (xi. 32-38.)-and that with less advantages than the Christian enjoys, Exhortation, with such witnesses and examples, to engage reso- lutely, and persevere patiently, in our Christian race, looking to Jesus" as our succour and chief Exemplar, (xii. 1—3.) p. 207. Concluding remarks on the necessity and excellence of faith (rightly understood), and that to all men, in all vocations, and under My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. ver. 5. The severest trials to be regarded as "the chastisement of the Lord," appointed, in paternal love, for our good, however grievous at the time, (xii. 4-11.)—and therefore to be borne with fortitude, and without any compromise of holiness for the sake even of peace, or any concessions to the sowers of corrupt or profane doctrine, (xii. 12—17.) The Gospel more gracious than the Law, yet more awful, (xii. 18-24.)-Exhortation to listen to Christ, speaking to us from hea- ven with "the word of his power," (xii. 25-27.) p. 220. Exhortation to fortitude, founded on what has been said, and to prayer for grace that we may escape the wrath to come, (xii. 28, 29.) 2 Practical character of St. Paul's Epistles, and of this, p. 233. Precepts given as to brotherly love, (xiii. 1.)-care of strangers, of prisoners, and of the afflicted, (xiii. 2, 3.)—Such duties not obso- Chastity-freedom from covetousness-imitation of their departed guides, (xiii. 4--7.)-Christianity always the same-whatever might be advanced by new teachers in favour of a Judaizing profession, (xiii. 8, 9.)—The Christian altar and sacrifice-separate from those of the tabernacle, (xiii. 10.)– -a sacrifice not Jewish, but universal; not earthly, but spiritual, (xiii. 11-14.)—The sacrifices which Christians must themselves offer, (xiii. 15, 16.) p. 238. The Apostle urges obedience to their living guides, and requests their prayers for himself, (xiii. 17-19.)-Benediction and doxology, And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation. ver. 22. Remarks to shew that St. Paul may have been, and most probably General review of the Epistle, p. 257. General application of it.-I. Virtual Judaism.-II. Virtual apos- INTRODUCTION. THE EPISTLE-BY 66 WHOM WRITTEN-IN WHAT LANGUAGE-WHO MEANT BY THE HEBREWS"-BRIEF REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE HEBREW CHURCH: ITS STATE AT THE TIME-DATE OF THE EPISTLE. THE "Epistle to the Hebrews" being destitute at the commencement (though only' at the commencement) of the Epistolary form, some, among the moderns, have even doubted if it be an Epistle; whilst the omission of St. Paul's name (for which there were most weighty reasons') led a few persons of note in the early Latin Church to question, if the "letter" (for such it is3) were from St. Paul. These latter doubts seem to have been set at rest before the end of the fourth century; and the Christian Church at large, in the West, as well as in the East, appears to have concurred in acknowledging not only the authenticity of the Epistle as part of the sacred canon, but its genuineness also 1 See iii. 1; v. 11, 12; vi. 9, 10: x. 32. 34, with other similar passages, and particularly xiii. 22-25. 2 See Lecture XIV. 3 See Ch. xiii. 22. B as being from St. Paul; and in prefixing to it the title or inscription which it still bears, and which is to be found', with one exception, in all the manuscripts now extant. The very circumstance of the fact being first questioned (rejected from the Canon the Epistle never was in ancient times, excepting by heretics', to whom St. Paul, as a most powerful advocate for the truth, was peculiarly obnoxious) --but the very circumstance of the fact of its genuineness being first ques tioned in the warmth of controversy, then, on farther inquiry, universally admitted, should strengthen our belief of it. With such testimony, it would be unreasonable to attach much importance to objections, almost entirely of modern growth (and which have been abundantly refuted), founded chiefly on critical views of the style of the writer. For such views, though entertained by eminent men, are, after all, mere matter of opinion, often fanciful, at best uncertain, and by no means to be admitted as subversive of the evidence of antiquity on a question of fact. Of the internal evidence, which the Epistle supplies, to show that it was written by St. Paul, some notice is taken in Lecture XIV.; to which the reader is referred. As to the original language of the Epistle, the most credible opinion seems to be, that it was written either by St. Paul himself, or under his dictation, by St. Luke, in Greek, the general language of the New Testament; as the one best calculated to make the Epistle of extensive use even to persons of Hebrew 1 See Grotius, L'Enfant, and Beza. 2 Some of whom, as Marcion, rejected several of St. Paul's Epistles; others, as Ebion, all. |