opposition to this phrase; but if it be understood in the sense in which we have endeavoured to explain it, the parallelism is then complete in both cases. Thus the "taster" of "the heavenly gift," turning rejecter, becomes the "crucifier to himself of the Son of God afresh;" the "partaker of the Holy Ghost," and "taster of the powers of the world to come," turning resister, becomes "earth' unrained upon, "bearing thorns and briers," the natural product of his barren unproductive heart (ver. 8).

"They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh." It is said that "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures," a doctrine which the apostle says, he "delivered unto" his converts "first of all," as being "that which he also received the first" (1 Cor. xv, 3, Gal. i. 11, 12, 15, 16), inasmuch as this is the very foundation-stone of the Christian religion (1 Cor. iii. 11, Eph. ii. 20, Luke xxiv. 46, 47, Acts xvii. 3, Gal. iii. 1, &c.); and he was the foundation-layer of the gospel church among the Gentiles (Rom. xv. 20, 1 Cor. iii. 10, and iv. 15, &c.). Hence, he says again, "he determined not to know anything among them, save Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. ii. 2). Christ having therefore been crucified for our sins, sin was the procuring cause, so to speak, of his crucifixion, and it was by means of this death that he meant to destroy sin and its author. Thus, it is said in

Hebrews, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death (which is "the wages of sin," Rom. vi. 23), that is, the devil" (chap. ii. 14). And again in John, "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John iii. 8); sin being his great and only work. Christ's object, therefore, being the destruction of sin, he who would be Christ's must have a like object, and if he be Christ's, he will have; for if he be Christ's, he will be a partaker of Christ's spirit (Rom viii. 9, Gal. iv. 6, Phil. i. 19, &c.), and the Spirit is given for that express purpose (Rom. viii. 13). Hence," they that are Christ's" are said to "have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Gal. v. 24); they are "crucified unto the world" (Gal. vi. 14); they, " through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, that they may live" (Rom. viii. 13); "their old man being crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth they should not serve sin" (Rom. vi. 6); They are crucified with Christ, nevertheless they live; yet not they, but Christ liveth in them; and the life that they now live in the flesh, they live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved them, and gave himself for them" (Gal. ii. 20). It follows, therefore, as a necessary consequence,

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from these truths, that every wilful and deliberate sin committed by a professing Christian, is a crucifying to himself of the Son of God afresh." It is a deliberate aiding and abetting of that which crucified Christ, and a giving up, therefore, necessarily of all interest in him. It is a selling oneself, as it were, to the devil, to work unrighteousness, and a siding with Satan, and fighting, under his accursed banners, against the blessed Jesus, who came to destroy the works of the devil; if it does not comprehend in it also a tacit acquiescence in the justice of Christ's punishment, and that he deserved the death he died.

As, however, this was addressed to Hebrews, and a denial of Christ by Hebrews would be tantamount to a rejection of him as an impostor, this passage no doubt may mean more. It may mean that the persons so acting have a bitter and deadly hostility to Christ and his gospel, and so act, ex animo; i. e. that so far as they themselves are concerned they would have crucified him, if not, would also recrucify him, if they could.

"And put him to an open shame." Every wilful sin committed by a professing Christian in the open sight of others, is a putting of Christ to open shame, inasmuch as the act is a deliberate declaration by him that Christ's service is consistent with indulgence in sin-that he is not careful whether his disciples be holy or not, nay, that he is in

league with Beelzebub, and that he is "the minister of sin" himself (Gal. ii. 17). So St Paul argues in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, "Know ye not," says he, "that your bodies are the members of Christ, shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot ?" a proposal from which he starts in horror with a 66 God forbid" (1 Cor. vi. 15). And so the prophet Nathan reasoned with David, "Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme (i. e. to assert that God permitted such sins and connived at them in his children, as we have ourselves heard it asserted by unbelievers), the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die" (2 Sam. xii. 14); aye, and "the sword shall never depart from thine house," &c. (ver. 10). Such sins are peculiarly aggravating to God, and must be punished accordingly. What ! shall such men not be punished, because they are the professing people of God! Nay, surely this is the greater reason why they should be. Justice absolutely requires it. The vindication of the divine honour demands it. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos iii. 2). And yet, where the case is not hopeless, love is mixed with it even still. A father discovers that a dear son has

committed some sad excesses in company with other boys. "As for those boys who have seduced my

poor boy," says he, "they are not mine, and I have nothing to do with them, but I will take care that my son does not go unpunished. I will not spare him." But why? to make him worse? Nay, surely, if possible, to make him better.

In the extended sense the phrase would no doubt apply to those who act with the avowed intent and object of vilifying and dishonouring Christ, and putting him to an open shame.

And what does the apostle predicate of the class of persons whom we have been considering? He says: "It is impossible to renew them unto repentauce," and that for the reasons before given. "It is impossible (adúvarov)." There are several senses of the word adúvaros in Scripture, the ordinary meaning being deficient in strength or power; but the consideration of two of them only will be sufficient for our present purpose. The word signifies a thing absolutely impossible, i. e. a moral impossibility: as for instance in the 18th verse of this same chapter, where it is said that it is "impossible (adúvarov) for God to lie;" his moral nature and perfections absolutely forbid it.

It signifies again a thing exceedingly difficultimpossible indeed, in the ordinary sense-to man, but possible with God. Thus in Mat. xix. 23-26, we are told, on a certain occasion, that "Jesus said unto his disciples, Verily, I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.