the heavenly Jerusalem, and are become the associates of angels; xii. 23. They have already been made partakers of an eternal unchangeable kingdom; xii. 28. They have already felt the powers of the world to come. Hence it follows, that, as they no more belong in their inward life to this transitory world, but to the higher future world, they are actually raised above the whole stand-point of Judaism. When in ix. 9, it is said, that, in the kaipos ¿vεotηkws (equivalent to aior ouros), there is a sacrificial worship, which yet, like all such outward things, cannot bestow' the right constitution of the inner life, the purification from guilt, which man requires in order to become a member of God's kingdom, it must be recollected that Christians do not belong to the air ouros, but to the air péλλwr, and hence all this is nothing to them. When the author speaks of outward ordinances,2 ix. 10, which were "imposed until the time of reformation;" it is added, that Christ is He from whom the dióp@wois emanates, which frees from the yoke of these ordinances, though in its whole extent it will first take effect in the οἰκουμένη μελλοῦσα. In fact, he contrasts with the Jews who serve an earthly sanctuary (xiii. 10) the Christians to whom the altar in heaven stands open, while it is closed against the Jews who cleave to an earthly sanctuary. This is the contrast between those whose worship still adheres to the veil of outward sensible forms, and those who rise at once to heaven. As Jesus suffered without the gates of Jerusalem, so, according to the symbolical representations employed in this epistle, must those who desire to belong to him withdraw themselves from the terrestrial Jerusalem, the earthly sanctuary, as from this world in general; xiii. 13. We here find the same principles as in Paul's writings. The author of this epistle does not, indeed, argue directly against the maintenance of the outward forms of the Jewish cultus, nor does he demand their abolition; but this even Paul would not have done in an epistle addressed to Christians who belonged to Judaism by national descent and education.

1 Paul would have said that all this could not contribute to their justification.

2 The same which Paul asserts of the σapkiкà Tтoû vóμov, of the being in subjection to the στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου.

As the contrast in ver. 11 shows.

It may appear as rather un-Pauline that he treats only of the salvation of those who belonged to the posterity of Abraham, and of Christ's relation to such. We may indeed doubt, whether Paul, if he had been writing to a church composed entirely of Jewish Christians, could have so far restrained himself, as not to have dropped some expressions on a subject which so deeply interested him as the divine purpose to incorporate the Gentiles with the Jews in the kingdom of God, by faith in the Redeemer; and whether he would not have felt compelled to have adverted, at least in an apologetic manner, to his peculiar vocation as a preacher of the gospel among the Gentiles. Yet it is certain that a writer who so expressed himself respecting the conditions of admission into the Messianic kingdom and on the relation of Judaism to the work of Christ, as we find to be the case in this epistle, must have agreed with the Pauline doctrine in thinking, that as the attainment of eternal salvation was independent of Judaism and determined alone by faith in Christ, therefore by the fulfilment of this one condition it was attainable by all men. We also find that he selects as a type of Christ, not one of the family of Abraham, but Melchisedec-an indication of Messianic universalism. If we call to mind that he considers the λads as representative of the theocratic people in general, the posterity of Abraham as representatives of the human family in general, who are destined for the kingdom of God, we shall not be able to detect any contradiction between himself and Paul.

With respect to the work of Christ, the author of this epistle appears to differ from Paul in not bringing forward the resurrection as a seal of the redemption effected by the Saviour in the same way as that apostle. But it is not difficult to perceive, that the same conception of the resurrection in relation to the whole of the Christian system lies at the basis of this epistle. There is the same connexion between sin and death presupposed, as when it is said in ii. 14, that Satan had the power over death, that is, that death was not an original element in the creation, but was first occasioned by Satan, by means of sin, which is the work of Satan, and being thus connected with sin, belongs to Satan's kingdom. Ir the same sense as Paul intends, sin is also considered as the sting of death; for it is said that men oppressed by a

consciousness of guilt are kept in continual bondage through the fear of death,-that fear of death, which presents itself in connexion with the divine judgment to the agonizing conscience as something so terrible, and which blasts the cheerful enjoyment of life. When it is affirmed that Christ through death destroyed the kingdom of Satan, who had power over death, and thereby freed men from the bondage in which they were held by the fear of death, it is presupposed that, by the power of his holy life, he left the grave victoriously at his resurrection, and by this event gave a pledge to his redeemed of a life of eternal happiness. It is said in v. 7, that Christ, who, as he had assumed human nature with all its weakness, sin excepted, was subjected to death, poured forth in his struggle with death fervent prayers and tears to God who could redeem from death, and on account of his perfect resignation to the will of his heavenly Father, and his perfect obedience, was heard, that is, was delivered from death by means of his resurrection. The God of salvation is described in xiii. 20, as he who had brought from the dead the great leader and ruler of the church of God; and in these words it is implied, that Christ by his resurrection became the leader from death to life of the church of God formed by him as the Redeemer, and laid the foundation for its salvation; and therefore God, in raising him from the dead, proved himself to be the God of salvation.

We see, then, that the same view is taken in this epistle as in Paul's writings, of the connexion of the resurrection with the work of redemption. But that the exaltation of Christ to heaven is more frequently adverted to than his antecedent resurrection in this epistle, may be traced to the prevailing form of its representations, in which Christ is compared to the high-priest of the Old Testament economy; for as high-priest, having ascended to heaven and remaining there, he fulfils his office by interceding with God for believers, and bringing them into perpetual communion with God and heaven. A contrast is pointed out between Christ and the Jewish high-priest in this respect, that the latter could enter into the holy of holies in the temple, which was only a symbol of that in heaven, but once a year, and was obliged to leave it again, as he himself had no abiding residence in the most holy place, much less could he obtain an entrance into it for those

on whose account he held the priestly office. It was a necessary consequence of this mode of representation, tlat there was less occasion for mentioning the resurrection, a: d that topic was brought forward more prominently to whi h the resurrection forms an introduction and transition.

But this idea of the high-priesthood of Christ is only a particular form of representing the general Christian idea of Christ as the Mediator, by whom the communion of the human race with God, broken off by sin, is again restored. That the writer of this epistle made use of this form, was principally owing no doubt to the peculiar character of the churches whom he addressed; but in part probably to the peculiarity of his own religious training. This form is indeed borrowed from Judaism. Yet it by no means denotes a transient relation in the historical development of Christianity, but is connected with one of its constant relations to human nature; a relation in virtue of which, under the consciousness of his earthly limitations and his sins, man feels himself in need of a mediation to fill up the infinite chasm that separates him from a holy God. Hence in all religions, and in various stages of civilization, methods have been invented for satisfying this want; a caste of priests, or saints who have attained perfection by an unworldly asceticism, or some kind of mediators the offspring of the imagination, and a multitude of sensible objects, have been made use of, as points of connexion for the religious sentiment in its aspirations after God. Christ has for ever satisfied this undeniable want of human nature, which no human being who stood himself in need of redemption and mediation could satisfy, and consequently all priesthood and sacrificial worship are henceforth superfluous and abolished. The redeemed are dependent on no other being for the purpose of mediating their relation to God. Through him they are brought into a lasting connexion with God and the heavenly holy of holies; through him, as the everliving high-priest, they continually draw nigh to God: it is he who intercedes for them continually with God, and through their relation to him their whole life is consecrated to God and acceptable to him; vii. 25, 26. Now this is in perfect harmony with what Paul teaches (according to the explanation we have given of his views) respecting the scheme of mediation for believers; respecting the whole Christian life as a thank-offering for the

blessings .f redemption, and the free access to God through the mediation of Christ; and from the manner in which he applies to Christianity the Jewish ideas of the temple and the sacrifices and the whole ceremonial worship, we are authorized to infer, that he would make a similar application of the idea of the priesthood.

In order to realize this idea for the benefit of the human race, it was needful that Christ, who, according to his divine nature as Logos, effectuates the derivation of all created existence from God and its connexion with God--should become acquainted with all the weaknesses, sufferings, temptations, and conflicts of those for whom he had to intercede as high-priest, from his own experience, that he might understand the exigencies in which they would require his aid, feel genuine sympathy with their infirmities, and infuse true confidence into their hearts. At the same time, the writer of this epistle considers the sufferings of Christ in the twofold point of view, of active and passive satisfaction, which we have explained in the representation of the Pauline doctrine. Both are here combined in the idea of the all-sufficient sacrifice presented by Christ as high-priest, which effects that for which no human ritual was adequate. The relation of the sufferings of Christ as the Sinless One to the sins of mankind is thus illustrated, that as the sins of the people were symbolically transferred to the victim, (as if it could suffer what the people deserved,) so Christ in his sacrifice had taken upon himself the sins of mankind; his redeeming sufferings were the pledge that their guilt would be no more charged upon them; ix. 28. the other part of Christ's work noticed by Paul,—his active obedience, it is in this epistle expressly stated that Christ, according to the divine appointment, having proved himself to be the Holy One in all human temptations, and under the severest death-struggle, gained thereby the dignity of highpriest; v. 7, 8. The sacrifice of Christ obtains its due significance only in this moral connexion, not as an opus operatum, like the sacrifice of animals, but as the act of One who, revealing the eternal divine essence in human nature, and exhibiting the perfect union of the divine and human in a holy human life, verified it also in death, as the consummation of a life which had been the revelation of the eternal Spirit of God in a sinless holy humanity. The significance

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