SECTION CVII.

'For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.'-HEB. vi. 4-8.

THIS impossibility of renewal to repentance is supposed by some to imply the endless sin and misery of such apostates as are here described; yet some of the orthodox commentators think differently:

1. MACKNIGHT. The apostle does not mean that it is impossible for God to renew a second time, by repentance, an apostate; but that is it impossible for the ministers of Christ to convert a second time, to the faith of the gospel, one who, after being made acquainted with all the proofs by which God hath thought fit to establish Christ's mission, shall allow himself to think him an impostor, and renounce his gospel. The apostle, knowing this, was anxious to give the Hebrews just views of the ancient oracles, in the hope that it would prevent them from apostatizing.' Note in loc.

2. ROSENMUller. 'Adunaton, in this place, does not mean absolutely impossible, but rather a thing so difficult, that it may be nearly impossible; thus we are accustomed to say of very many things, in common conversation.' Scholia in loc.

3. CLARKE. 'Is nigh to cursing: it is acknowledged, almost on all hands, that this epistle was written before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. This verse is, in my opinion, a proof of it; and here I suppose the apostle refers to that approaching destruction, and perhaps he has this all along in view, but speaks of it covertly, that he might not give offence.'

Dr. Clarke then goes on to say, that 'there is a good sense in which all these things may be applied to the Jews

at large;' and after making this application, and showing in what manner all the apostle says was true of them, he closes by saying that this nation was nigh unto cursingabout to be cast off from the divine protection, and their city and temple were shortly to be burnt up by the Roman armies. Thus the apostle, under the case of individuals, points out the destruction that was to come upon this people in general, and which actually took place about seven years after the writing of this epistle. And this appears to be the very subject which the apostle has in view in the parallel solemn passages, chap. x. 26-31, and viewed in this light, much of their obscurity and difficulty vanishes away.' Com. in loc.

4. CALMET. Many believe that impossible is here used simply for difficult. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. 36, has noticed five senses in which a thing is ordinarily said to be impossible.-One thing is impossible from its nature, another from custom, a third from equity and justice, a fourth from the state of the will, a fifth is absolutely and really impossible. We say, for example, that an infant is not able to wrestle, nor a puppy to see; but the one may be able to wrestle, when he shall have increased in strength, and the other to see after certain days. Secondly, it is said that a city placed on the top of a mountain cannot be concealed, which, in a certain sense, is true; yet the thing is not absolutely impossible, because it may be hid behind a still higher mountain. Thirdly, it is said, the children of the bridechamber cannot fast while the bridegroom remains with them; that is, that this would be neither just nor becoming. Fourthly, it is said, Matt. xiii. 38, that Jesus Christ could not perform many miracles in Nazareth, on account of the incredulity of the inhabitants; that is, he did not choose to manifest his power to them, in which they had so little faith. Lastly, it is utterly impossible that the whole should be greater than all its parts, or that God should be unjust.'

To show that he did not consider the reformation of such a backslider as the text describes, to be utterly impossible, Calmet says that 'St. Paul by no means intended to exclude the baptism of tears and of repent

ance, for the expiation of those sins which we commit after regeneration, for as much as he often commends this; and he received again into the church the incestuous Corinthian, after that sin, on account of which he had before anathematized him. Our Saviour, also, when conferring on Peter and the other apostles the power of binding and loosing, did not except a single sin :"Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." Matt. xiv. 19.' Com. in loc.

SECTION CVIII.

'And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.'-HEB. ix. 27, 28.

THE orthodox commentators agree in supposing the natural death of man, and a judgment in the future life, to be here intended. One of them, however, seems to have had a right view of the passage in part, although, like the others, he refers the death to the death of the body, and the judgment to a period in the future life. I shall quote that portion of his remarks, which seems

correct:

CAPPE. In allusion, therefore, to the high priest's offering on the day of annual atonement, it may be said of him, [Christ,] in one view, that he has offered his own blood to God in the holy of holies, for the sanctification of his people, and since this sacrifice is not to be repeated, and he is no more to be subject to the infirmities of this mortal state, in another view it may be said of him, with respect to what is to be seen of him in this world hereafter, that he will come forth like the high priest from the presence of God, to those who are waiting for him in the courts of God's house, to show himself unto them as

accepted of God, and to pronounce a blessing on them in his name: so after his ascension he came to his disciples in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so he will come to those of his faithful followers that shall endure unto the end, to preserve them from the calamities with which, before this generation passes away, he is to visit the hypocrite and the unbeliever.' Crit. Rem. vol. ii. pp. 317, 318.

If Cappe had not said previously, that he supposed the apostle to speak of man's natural death, and a judgment in the future life, we might have supposed his views did not differ materially from those of a majority of Universalists. As it is, indeed, he seems to have had a correct understanding of a part of the subject, as may appear by the foregoing quotation.

I need not give an extended account of the views entertained of this passage by Universalists; I merely observe, that the majority of them, I think, understand it as it is interpreted in a sermon on this text, by Rev. H. Ballou, (which is the first in the recent edition of his select sermons,) and in the Trumpet,' vol. iii. p.

17.

SECTION CIX.

'Let us consider one another, to provoke unto love, and to good works. Not forsaking the asembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'-HEB. X. 24-31. is often alleged to prove the misery of

THIS passage

sinners after death. The last clause is a choice one for those public speakers who are fond of strongly exciting the fears of an audience. Bnt that there is no necessity for going into another state of existence to find the true application of the apostle's language, is admitted in the following quotations. The first, it will be noticed, is not a regular cominentary on the text, but it is an incidental remark, occurring in the illustration of another passage. Yet it is not the less valuable on that account; for the writer distinctly asserts, that this text ought to be interpreted according to the principles he had laid down.

1. LIGHTFOOT. Now what is meant by cutting off? if you ask some, they will put a sense of their own upon the phrase, and tell you it means a cutting off or separating a person from the congregation and public assemblies, by excommunication. But ask the Jews, to and among whom the thing was spoken, what it means in their common speech and acceptation, and they will tell you, cutting off means, death by the hands of heaven, death or destruction by the hand of God; interpreting the matter to this purpose, that, if a person sinned wilfully and presumptuously, there was no sin-offering allowed in that case; but the party, so offending, fell immediately under liableness to divine vengeance, to be destroyed, or cut off, by the hand of heaven.

And this interpretation of the phrase of cutting off, the apostle Paul doth justify in that passage, (Heb. x. 26,) If we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment,' &c. Sermon on 1 John, v. 16.

2. HAMMOND. The day approaching, (ver. 25:) the notion of the day of Christ, and day and coming of Christ, and kingdom of God, and many the like, signifying that famous destruction of the Jews, hath been often mentioned. The other phrases have been gathered together from their dispersions through this book. Note on Matt. iii. 2, xxiv. 3, &c. Now for this phrase, day, or day of Christ, although somewhat hath been said on Rom. xiii.