Of these Jews, some were continually representing to them the splendour of their high priests and of their sacrifices; and reproaching them with having foolishly deserted these glorious scenes. Others were more violent; and by accusations, by plundering their goods, by bonds, and other methods of cruelty endeavoured to render their lives miserable. These afflictions, however, they had learned to bear, and to account as nothing, ch. x. 34. Their virtue and constancy had been confirmed by enduring trials. But they could not help being stung with the incessant, taunting represen tations of the splendour and dignity of the religion of their ancestors; they could not bear to be pointed at and ridiculed as deserters, apostates, betrayers of their most sacred law; and there was reason to fear that they would voluntarily renounce that religious community, of which they had recently become members. In my opinion, they would have renounced it, had not the apostle given them timely admonition by sending this epistle to all the churches.

To admonish his readers with effect, in this critical state of things, would be, he was aware, an extremely difficult task. He was obliged to use, at the same time, the language of instruction, of reproof, of consolation, and of admonition. The minds of his readers were to be gained over by methods entirely foreign to our times. He was convinced that he could effect little or nothing, should he attempt,by arguments drawn from the schools of the philosophers, to prove the christian religion to be our kindest friend, the guide of life, the parent of good morals, the guardian of virtue. He felt the necessity of pursuing a different path; and of making use of other methods of conviction, and other topics of consolation. It was necessary that he should institute a comparison between the new religion and the old law which they had renounced; estimate it on the principles of the latter, and make it evident that the old religion could boast of no excellence which did not belong to the new; and that it was in many respects far infe rior to it in the grandeur and sublimity of the objects it presented to view. It was incumbent on him to shew that the new religion was introduced by a messenger divinely commissioned, not only the interpreter of the sacred writings, but superior to other messengers of God, angels, prophets, &c. the Messiah, the son of God, exhibiting, as in a mirror, the image of the divine perfections. He was to shew that the sufferings of the founder of the new religion were his glory, rather than his disgrace. He was to make it appear that the new religion, too, could boast of its temple, of its sacrifice, and of a higher and more perfect chief priest, who had a mild and merciful disposition-who was not unwilling to help the infirmities of men. Above all, it was ne

cessary to eradicate that capital, deeply rooted error, that no method was secured, after the abolition of sacrifices, by which pardon could be obtained. This he does by assuring them that the favour of God was recovered by the death of Christ, as by a sacrifice. In one word, it was necessary that the apostle should convince them, that in rejecting their old religion and accepting the new, they had received no injury-they had sustained no loss; but that, on the contrary, they had gained many immense advantages; that they had professed a religion, which scarcely deserved to be called new, since it was adorned with the same beauty, and bright with the same majesty as the former; and also promised rewards similar to those, which they expected from the Jewish dispensation, but far more glorious and sublime.

These points were to be illustrated. And the most ingenious author of the Epistle does illustrate them, and fulfils his difficult office with prudence as well as zeal. The course he pursues is, first to prove that Christ is higher than the angels, ch. i. ii. and secondly, that he was superior to Moses, the high priests, &c. and performed sacerdotal offices of much greater efficacy and value than the old and finally, he closes the Epistle with exhortations suited to the condition and circumstances of his readers.

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The Apostle begins with demonstrating the superiority of the Christ to the angels.* The reason of this course was the fact, that the Jews boasted not a little of the immediate agency of angels in the promulgation of their law upon Sinai. And by the word angels I understand, not lightnings, nor any remarkable phenomena of nature; nor yet prophets, the divine messengers, and interpreters of the divine oracles; (though the word is sometimes used in both senses) but real intermediate beings between God and man.

Since it can be abundantly proved by a variety

*It is not necessary to infer from this that the Author of the Epistle believed Christ to be higher than the angels in any thing besides the dignity of his character and office. A Jewish writer of that age would have no scruple in asserting an acknowledged human being to be higher or more excellent than angels. Schoettgen, an eminent rabbinical scholar, remarks in his note upon Matthew xxii. 30, The Jews ascribe greater glory to men than to angels, both in this life and the future," He says again The Jews ascribe a far higher excellence to the blessed than to angels; because though frail men, they have overcome evil desires.' The following quotations support his assertion. Tanchuma in Talcut Simeoni fol. 271. 1. et Talcut Rubeni fol. 176. 2. Vide quod Deus S. B. Israelitas plus amet quam angelos ministeriales, Quomodo vero? Resp. Illi superiores dicuntur et Ísraelitae quoque sic dicuntur. q. d. Ps. 113. 20. Laudate dominum angeli ejus. Angeli dicuntur sancti Dan. iv. 17. Et in verbo sanctorum postulatum est;' Sic et Israelitae Lev. xix. 2. 'Sancti eritis.' Et quisnam magis amatur ? Resp. Is quem deus praesentiasua honorat. q. d. Ps. 82. 1. 'Deus constitutús est in congregatione Dei.' In another place, Sapientia justorum temporibus Messiaé major erit quam angelorum ministerialium.' (Translator.)

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of passages, that the Jews of that age held the opinion that an gels were instrumental in the delivery of their law.*

To prove that Christ excelled Moses in dignity and honour was a matter of inferior necessity; since the Jewish converts complained not so much of the author of the Religion, as of the want of all those circumstances, which might give dignity and splendour to the external form of the religion. Yet as Moses was held in such veneration by the Jewish nation it was not useless just to glance at this tópic; as in the very beginning of the Epistle he had pointed out the superiority of Jesus to the prophets, who stood nearly as high as Moses in their estimation.

The readers of this Epistle, who had just renounced the splendour of the Jewish ceremonies for a new and simple religion, must have been filled with painful emotions, when they saw that all that grandeur, which had formerly so powerfully affected their minds, had entirely vanished-the temple, the altar, the sacrifices, the priests, and the most eminent of all-the highpriest, whose dignity and authority amongst the Jews were almost indiscribable. What difficulties were to be surmounted by the Apostle in persuading his readers that none of these circumstances was wanting in the new religion? What important and beneficial consequences had he a right to expect from the successful performance of this task? What could be better adapted to give them consolation, and to arm them with fortitude to endure their calamities? Will any one then blame the author, and not rather consider it as a mark of his good sense, that he dwells long on this topic, and places it in a great variety of lights? Who will be surprised that he recurs so frequently to the ancient ordinances of the Jews, their rites, their ceremonies-that he not merely glances at them at the threshold, but penetrates with his readers into the inmost sanctuary, the most sacred recesses; that, by various metaphors, and a long continued series of connected allegories, he demonstrates the immense superiority of Christianity over their old religion in all those respects; since the latter presented only the shadow of the good things introduced by Christ; whilst from the former flowed real blessings, substantial rewards, as from a most copious fountain. How for

* Luke seems to allude to this notion in Acts vii. 53. See Krebs from Josephus, Comp. Gal. iii. 19. and Wets. upon the passage. There is an explicit passage in Josephus Ant. 15. 5. 3. 'We having received the most excellent and holy doctrines from God by the instrumentality of angels.'

+ He sometimes possessed power equal, or superior to, that of kings: like the Roman Pontifex. Philo (De legat. ad Caium p. 1031. C.) says, 'the Jews consider royalty inferior to the priesthood; and think the office of highpriest as much higher than that of king, as God is than man.' And De profug. p. 466 B. 'We say that the high priest is not man but the divine Logos.' Comp. Joseph. against Apion b. ii. ch. 21.

cibly must these considerations have struck the minds of his readers? This is the most noble and the most difficult part of the Epistle; and most remarkable for copiousness of Jewish learning, subtilty of argument, and for a fanciful use of words. But the most striking feature of all is the constant and finished image, by which Christ is represented as a high priest, and his death as a sacrifice for our sins; a sublime figure, and, allowing for the peculiar opinions and circumstances of the persons addressed, a very suitable one. It is a subject of regret that this part of the Epistle has been so much confused by observations of supposed importance in polemic theology; or buried under a load of superfluous notes relative to the Hebrew ritual.

Such were the principal things to be illustrated by the author of this Epistle. But he is ever intent upon his main purpose of consoling and admonishing his readers, and exciting them to approve themselves to God the faithful, obedient, persevering professors of that religion, whose author was higher than the angels, and far superior to Moses and the prophets. He exhorts them to fear no afflictions-to suffer themselves to be driven from the strong hold of their faith by no assaults of calamity: since they were not to consider calamities as punishments from an angry judge, but the dealings of a most merciful father, cherishing towards us the most tender regard. For in this school of affliction their virtue might be confirmed, their minds strengthened, and their constancy increased. These and similar exhortations are profusely scattered in various parts of the Epistle. They are not merely collected together at the end, but glow like flowers on almost every page. It is, therefore, in my opinion, incorrect to divide this Epistle into two parts, one doctrinal, the other hortatory; which is the usual arrangement in the Epistles of St. Paul.

When one considers the immense and somewhat dangerous field the author was to traverse, and the manner in which he has done it, he cannot but admire the extreme ardour with which he hastens to the end proposed, and the caution and circumspection with which he selects his paths. It is of no consequence whether you ascribe this to the genius and spirit of the age, or to the skill and care of the writer. Every one, I think, must confess that he compared what Christianity teaches with the ancient Jewish ceremonies with great ingenuity; and made it plain that the new religion was inferior to the old in none of those advantages, in which the latter gloried.

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS.

"THE sources of all vice are our inferior propensities and appetites, which, though in themselves natural, innocent, and useful, cannot but, in our present state, interfere with reason, and remain to influence us, as well when they cannot be lawfully gratified, as when they can. Hence it comes to pass, that we often actually deviate, and that the reflecting principle is found in men, in all degrees of proportion to their lower powers and desires. Our only sound and healthy state is that, in which our reason is pre-eminent, and all our other powers obedient to it. Goodness in men is this state restored and established. It is the power of reflexion, raised to its due seat of direction and sovreignty in the mind; conscience fixed and kept in the throne, and having under its sway all our passions and desires. The least it implies is some predominancy of good affections and su periority of virtuous principles in us, above all others. Wickedness on the contrary is the subversion of this original and nat ural state of the mind, or the prevalency of the lower powers in opposition to the authority of reason. It implies the inferiority of good principles to others within a man; a greater attachment to some particular objects than to truth and righteousness, or such a defective regard to virtue as is consistent with indulging, in any instance, known guilt. It is the violent and unnatural state of the mind; the deposition of reason and the exaltation of appetite; the death of the man, and the triumph of the brute; slavery in opposition to liberty; sickness in opposi tion to health; and uproar and anarchy in opposition to peace.

'If then we would know our own characters, and determine to which class of men we belong, the good or the bad; we must compare our regard to everlasting truth and righteousness with our regard to friends, credit, pleasure and life; our love of God and moral excellence with our love of inferior and sensible objects, the dominion of reason with the force of appetite, and find which prevail. Till the rational part gets the victory over the animal part, and the main bent of the heart is turned towards virtue; till the principles of piety and goodness obtain in some degree the supremacy, and the passions bave been made to resign their usurped power, we are within the confines of vice and danger and misery. There is too much reason to believe, that many many deceive themselves by concluding that since they possess worthy qualities, and feel the workings of good principles, since