! 116 THE GOOD WORD OF GOD. [HEBREWS. 1 Gal. iii. 2, 5. venly gift, and 'were made partakers of the Holy ch. ii. 4. m ch. ii. 5. Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, m were not, as far as we can gather, instructed in high truths, but only in mere rudiments. They only learnt the creed on the very eve of their Baptism. They were not allowed to use the Lord's Prayer till they received Baptism. So that, on the comparatively low ground of human instruction, it might well be called an enlightenment. But when we add to this the universal faith of those ages in the supernatural agency of God in the Sacraments, we may well believe that, "according to their faith," it was done to them, and a miracle of enlightening and sanctifying grace accompanied the administration. "And have tasted of the heavenly gift." Chrysostom explains this of forgiveness. "And were made partakers of the Holy Ghost." Either through the laying on of hands, or by a direct act of God. They partook of the Holy Ghost, not merely so as to be endued with supernatural gifts, but so as to be purified and sanctified by His indwelling. 5. "And have tasted the good word of God." That is, have tasted its sweetness and its excellence; as the Psalmist sings, "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." This is an advance upon what has gone before. It is one of the highest works of the Spirit to bring the Scriptures, which He Himself has inspired, to bear upon the heart, to unfold to the spirit the wonders which they contain, so that reading or hearing which, if performed at all, was an irksome duty, is now a delight. "And the powers of the world to come." There are those in whom heaven is begun upon earth. "How powerful in it will be redemption and freedom from all evil and misery, what joy and happiness, what power God will manifest in His blessed ones, in began to suggest a means of accomplishment; what had before been thought impossible, to be capable of being achieved; so that I was enabled to acknowledge that what previously having been born of the flesh had been living in the practice of sin, and was of the earth, earthly, had now begun to be born of God, and was animated by the Spirit of holiness." CHAF. VI.] IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY. 117 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; "seeing they crucify to themselves the n ch. x. 29. Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 6. "If they shall fall away." "And having fallen away." their glory, honour. and immortality, in their eternal life, in their vision and fruition of God." (Cornelius à Lapide.) 6. "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance." Revisers translate thus: “And then (after these blessed experiences), fell away, to renew them again unto repentance." The all-important question is, what is this falling away? The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It must mean one of two things-falling into, or committing some sin, as fornication or theft, or it must mean utter apostasy. It cannot mean the former, for the grossest sins are supposed to be pardonable if men repent, and submit to the discipline of the Church. A grosser case of sin cannot well be imagined than that of the incestuous Corinthian, and yet the Apostle not only absolves him (2 Cor. ii. 10), but earnestly asks his brother Christians to "comfort him, lest, perhaps, such an one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow" (7). And at the end of the same Épistle (xii. 21), “Lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." Both St. James and St. John also assume that baptized or enlightened Christians will commit sins which need forgiveness. (James v. 14-16; 1 John i. 8-10; ii. 1.) The Apostolic writer must, then, of necessity, have in his mind utter apostasy, and this is evident from the parallel expression in x. 29: hath "trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing." The case of the apostate Jew was far worse than that of the apostate heathen, because a middle course was, by the nature of things, not possible to him. An apostate Jew, by the very fact of his apostasy, must have acknowledged that our Lord was an impostor, Who worked His miracles by the power of Satan, and that He was justly condemned and justly crucified. Now, when a Jew 118 oft upon it, Or, for. DRINKETH IN THE RAIN. [HEBREWS. 7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh and bringeth forth herbs meet for them || by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God 8 P But that which beareth thorns and briers is • Ps. lxv. 10. p Isa. v. 6. thus fell away, there seems to have been, humanly speaking, no possibility of repentance. He had knowingly and willingly cut away from under himself the only ground which made repentance available. I say, humanly speaking, because all things are possible to God, and this raises the question whether the writer of the Epistle is speaking absolutely, as if, under no circumstances, could such an apostate be reclaimed, or that his repentance was a case of such difficulty that it must be regarded as practically impossible. I dare not say which. One thing is certain, that the writer did not consider those to whom he wrote as absolutely free from all danger of such a fall. Their faith, their Christianity, was in a declining state, and we know not to what depths a soul on the decline will sink. The Apostolic writer bids us have a wholesome fear of the lowest. The Jew, then, by his apostasy, as far as man could do, crucified the Son of God afresh, for after acknowledging Him to be the Messiah, he turned round and proclaimed Him an impostor. This place, of course, cuts at the roots of the necessary final perseverance of a soul once in grace, as held by Calvinists. 7, 8. "For the earth which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it, &c. . . . . nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." In this illustration the reception by the land of the rain which cometh upon it, is the leading feature, and the action of the husbandmen ("meet for them by whom it is dressed "), is in the background. By this the Apostolic writer would emphasize the fact that those whom he so solemnly warns had not only received labour from the spiritual husbandmen, but grace from heaven. The same grace descends alike on the ground which produces useful produce, and that which produces what is noxious. Notice also that the ground is supposed to have received what descends from heaven with some degree of avidity ("the earth which drinketh in the rain "), receiveth blessing from God. (Compare Matth. xiii. 20.) God blessed the ground and all which lived upon it after He had made it, and it was after Adam had sinned that He pronounced the CHAP. VI.] WHOSE END IS TO BE BURNED. 119 rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. curse. ("Cursed is the ground for thy sake; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.") The earth is the soil, the rain is heavenly grace; especially, if not altogether, the grace of the Holy Spirit; the "oft " coming of the rain is the abundance of grace (“which he shed on us abundantly," Titus iii. 6); the dressing is the labour of the ministers and stewards of God's mysteries; the herbs "meet for them by whom it is dressed," are the good fruit which true Christians bear to the glory of God, and the benefit of their fellow-creatures; the briars and thorns are evil deeds, or neglect of grace to produce good works; the blessing includes all good gifts from God, particularly greater fruitfulness in good works; the rejection is the final rejection. "Nigh unto cursing," why does the apostolic writer say "nigh" unto cursing, instead of cursed? Does he mean to imply that the curse is not yet pronounced, but is on the point of being pronounced, but there is space left for repentance? We hope so. Chrysostom says, "Oh! how great consolation is there in this word! For he said 'nigh unto a curse,' not a 'curse.' Now he that hath not yet fallen into a curse, but is come to be near thereto, may also come to be afar off from it (by repentance)." "Whose end is to be burned." "If a man abide not in me" (and all grace is given to us that we may abide in Him) "if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a brand and is withered, and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John xv. 6.) 9. 66 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things," &c.; "better" than that they should fall away into apostasy. 66 Things that accompany salvation." Joined to, laying hold of salvation. They who are in the way of attaining salvation are those who are advancing instead of declining in the Divine Life, they receive the rain of the heavenly grace and receive it not in vain, but bear fruit to God. 120 q Prov. xiv. 31. John xiii. 20. 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. s 1 Thess. i. 3. t Rom. xv. 25. 2 Cor. viii. 4. & ix. 1, 12. 2 Tim. i. 18. S GOD IS NOT UNRIGHTEOUS. [HEBREWS. 10 For God is not unrighteous to forget $ your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have 'ministered to the saints, and do minister. 10. "And labour of love." "Labour" omitted by N, A, B., C., D., E., P., nine or ten Cursives, d, e, f, Vulg., Syriac, &c. ; but retained by E., L., most Cursives, Copt. "Though we thus speak." We speak thus because we would be on the safe side, with respect to you. There is a spirit of declension among many of our countrymen, and you may be drawn into it. 10. "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and (labour of) love." God has very distinctly promised to reward all good works of benevolence and self-denial. Our Lord Himself goes as far as possible in this way when he says, "Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward" (Matth. x. 42). And our Lord in Matth. xxv. makes the final judgment itself turn upon the doing of deeds of benevolence or the doing them not. "Come ye blessed, I was an hungered and ye gave me meat." God exhibits His righteousness, not only in taking vengeance, as some seem to think, but in rewarding that which he has promised to reward, and there is nothing which he has so unreservedly promised to reward as benevolence and kindly deeds. "Which ye have shewed towards His Name, in that ye have ministered," &c. What they did must have been because they believed in the Name of God as set forth in His Son Jesus Christ “I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it," (John xvii. 26), and for this reason, that their love and kindliness was especially manifested to the saints in those parts, ministering to their wants and persevering in doing so. These saints, of course, were Christians, and on that account were worked for and loved by the Hebrew believers. It has been thought by some that these Hebrew Christians thus commended were converted Jews of Rome, who had, along with the Gentiles, sent contributions to the poor saints in Judea, and there |