FROM THE BOOKSHELF

MUSINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

The moment you get the living God expanded in this epistle, you find that everything He touches, He communicates life for eternity to it. His Throne is for ever and ever – chapter i. tells you that. His House is for ever and ever – chapter iii. tells you that. His Salvation is eternal – chapter v. tells you that. His Priesthood is unchangeable – chapter vii. tells you that. His Covenant is everlasting – chapter ix. tells you that. His Kingdom cannot be moved – chapter xii. tells you that. There is nothing He touches that He does not impart eternity to.

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And, at the close, we read the beautiful utterance, which might be the text of the Epistle, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” He, being brought in, is “the same for ever.” What a magnificent thought it is, to think of God bringing in the blessed Jesus to the displacing of everything! That is perfection, because God rests in Him. This is exactly the Sabbath of old, when God rested in Creation. Now God rests in Christ, and that is perfection; and if you and I understand where we are, we are breathing the atmosphere of perfection, – an accomplished work, – a Sabbath. There is nothing more fruitful in glorious luminaries, than the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is an Epistle of untold glories, and of inestimable value to the conscience of the awakened sinner. It is the title of my soul to breathe the atmosphere of heaven itself; and if I do not do so, shall I put a cloud on my title because my experience is so poor?

The above is from notes taken at reading-meetings.

The Present Testimony 1865