FOURTH SERIES.

II.

The Great Salvation.

HEBREWS II.

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In the beginning of the first chapter of this Epistle, it is said, "God who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds." And the rest of that chapter is occupied in shewing how far the glory and excellence of the Son excel that of the highest angels; and so it is here said, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard for if the words

spoken by angels were stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" which was spoken by the Lord Himself and those who heard Him,

God bearing witness to their words by signs and wonders.

"We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard,”—earnest heed —what does this mean? That we are to listen attentively and to remember well, and be able to repeat what we have heard, is that it? Let us take some examples which we find in Scripture of what it means. In Luke ii., when the shepherds had heard the joyful message of the angel, that to them was born a Saviour, what did they at once determine to do? They did not merely think about what they had heard, or try to treasure it up in their memories; they said, "let us go and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us," and they went with haste, they did not rest till they saw the Saviour of whom they had heard; so earnest was the heed which they gave to the words of the angel. Their hearts also were so full of those glad tidings they had heard, that they proclaimed them aloud to others, and all that heard them wondered at the tidings they brought; but to wonder at a thing is very different from giving earnest heed to it. Mary, it is said, "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart," she did not let them slip.

So also the hearers of John the Baptist, when he was exhorting them (Luke iii.) to repent and be saved, came asking him "What shall we do?"

Publicans, soldiers came pressing round him with this one weighty question, "What shall we do?" And in Acts ii., when St. Peter is reminding the Jews of the great sin they had committed in crucifying the Lord of Glory, it is said "they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and unto the rest of the Apostles, men and brethren what shall we do ?" And that day there were added to the believers three thousand souls.

If we are merely hearing a thing, we will be sure to let it slip. We may like to hear it. We may like hearing sermons, for instance, we may hear them very often; but they will all slip away like water from a leaking vessel, unless they have brought us to that weighty question, what shall we do? How are they to affect our life, our heart, our whole being? Unless what we have heard is turned into a life, it will pass away. It will soon pass out of our memories if it is only there.

It is to those things which we have heard, that we should give earnest heed, we may have only heard them, and they may soon pass out of our memories; but the things themselves remain, as true as ever, they shall not pass away, and "if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation," spoken to us by

the Son of God Himself? It is then a great salvation that we are in danger of neglecting, of losing. Do we believe that by nature we are without God and without hope in the world? That we are born in sin and conceived in iniquity? And that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, than that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth alone?* And that we have been baptised into Him in order that we may be partakers of this great salvation, and yet that we may lose it, lose it merely by neglecting it, by not laying hold of it, or ceasing to lay hold of it?

What would we say of persons in a house on fire, who, when firemen put up ladders to save them, refused to venture on them? Or what would we say of those in a vessel about to go down at sea, who, when the life-boat came within reach, refused to escape and cling to the sinking vessel? Would we not say they have neglected their last chance of being saved? Such conduct, unless men were mad or drunk, we can scarcely conceive possible; but in regard to a far greater salvation how many of us are guilty of it?

But this salvation that we are tempted to neglect, that we have all too much neglected, what has it cost? How has it been procured? What shall be the condition to which it brings us? Beyond the glory which angels can attain to, we

Acts iv. 12.

To

are here told there is a glory reserved for man. The 8th Psalm is quoted, which says, "What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels: Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands." Adam had a shadow of that glory in Eden, when God created him very good, and set him over the works of His hands, but it was only a shadow; and he soon lost it, and was sent forth to till the ground in the sweat of his brow, and sentenced to return to the dust from whence he came. bear the wages of sin and to reap its bitter fruits. We see not yet all things put under man; but we know that Jesus having become man, has been made for a little while lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that by the marvellous grace of God He might taste that wages of our sin for every man; and we know that He is now crowned with glory and honour, and that a day is coming when He shall appear in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and all things shall be put under His feet. Truly, we may well say, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Poor, fallen, sinful man, that the blessed Son of God should thus visit him, thus take upon Him his nature, and exalt it to such glory and honour. And that in order that we may be partakers of that glory,