bly have been written after the destruction of the Jewish temple, and the cessation of its ordinances.

20. There has been some difference of opinion with regard to the "Hebrews" to whom this epistle is addressed. Some suppose it denotes those Jews, who from persecution, or forewarned of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, had left that city, and were scattered throughout Asia Minor. But there seems a greater probability in the more ancient opinion, held also by many of the modern critics, that this epistle was intended for the use of the Jewish converts in Palestine, who were called Hebrews, to distinguish them from Jews in foreign countries, who were styled Hellenists and Grecians.

21. The object of the writer manifestly is, to cheer and reassure them under the discouragements which they sustained, and the threats, reproaches, and persecutions, to which they were exposed from the unbelieving Jews.

22. "The Epistle to the Hebrews," Dr. Hales observes, "is a masterly supplement to the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, and also a luminous commentary on them, showing that all the legal dispensation was originally designed to be superseded by the new and better covenant of the Christian dispensation, in a connected chain of argument, evincing the profoundest knowledge of both.

23. "The natural excellence of this epistle, as connecting the Old Testament and the New

in the most convincing and instructive manner, and elucidating both more fully than any other epistle, or perhaps than all of them, places its divine inspiration beyond all doubt.

24. "We here find the great doctrines which are set forth in other parts of the New Testament, stated, proved, and applied to practical purposes, in the most impressive manner."

CHAPTER VII

ST. JAMES AND HIS EPISTLE.

1. ST. JAMES and his Epistle. James, the author of the epistle bearing his name, was surnamed the Less, partly to distinguish him from the other James, the son of Zebedee, and brother of the apostle John, who was executed at Jerusalem by Herod Agrippa, and probably, also, because he was lower in stature.

2. He was the son of Alpheus, and is likewise called the brother, or near relation, of our Lord. That he was an apostle, is evident from several passages in the New Testament, though it does not appear when his designation to this office took place, nor are any particulars recorded of him in the Gospels.

3. In the Acts, and in St. Paul's Epistles, he is several times mentioned with great distinction. He seems to have been appointed by the other apostles, probably soon after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, to reside at Jerusalem, and to

superintend the affairs of the church there, while the rest of the apostles traveled in other countries. His near relation to our Lord was probably the reason of his being selected to this honorable office, the duties of which he discharged with such inflexible integrity and holy zeal, that he obtained the appellation of James the Just.

4. He presided in the important council that met in Jerusalem, for the purpose of settling the question whether it was necessary that Gentile converts should be circumcised, and pronounced the decision of the apostles in a most clear and dignified manner.

5. According to Hegesippus, an ecclesiastical historian of the second century, his life was violently terminated by martyrdom. Having made a public declaration of his faith in Christ, the scribes and Pharisees excited a tumult among the Jews, which began at the temple; or at least they availed themselves of a general disturbance, however it might have originated, and demanded of James a public and explicit declaration of his sentiments concerning the character of Christ.

6. The apostle, standing on an eminence or battlement of the temple, whence he could be heard by the assembled multitude, avowed his faith, and maintained his opinion that Jesus was the Messiah. The Jews were exasperated, and precipitated him from the temple, and, as he was not killed by the fall, they began to cast stones at him. The holy apostle, kneeling down,

prayed to God to forgive his murderers, one of whom, at length, struck him with a long pole, which terminated his life, about the time of the passover, A. D. 62.

7. The epistle is generally believed to have been written a short time before the death of St. James.

8. Bishop Tomline considers that the immediate design of the epistle was to animate the Jewish Christians to support, with fortitude and patience, any sufferings to which they might be exposed, and to enforce the genuine doctrines and practices of the gospel, in opposition to the errors and vices that prevailed among them.

9. The principal source of these errors and vices was a misinterpretation of St. Paul's doctrine of justification by faith without the works of the law, that is, as the apostle meant it, without the observance of the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation; but hence, some had most unwarrantably inferred, that moral duties were not essential to salvation, and had therefore abandoned themselves to every species of licentiousness and profligacy.

10. All this the apostle rebukes with just severity; and enforces, at the peril of divine judgments, the strictest morality and purity. He intimates the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and closes with exhortations to patience, devotion, and an anxious care for the salvation of others.

11. "This epistle is one of the most instructive in the New Testament. Its style possesses

all that beautiful and elegant simplicity which so eminently characterizes the sacred writers. Having been written with the design of refuting particular errors, which had been introduced among the Jewish Christians, it is not so replete with the peculiar doctrines of Christianity as the epistles of St. Paul, or, indeed, as the other apostolical epistles; but it contains an admirable summary of those practical duties which are incumbent on all believers, and which it enforces in a manner equally elegant and affectionate."

CHAPTER VIII.

PETER AND HIS EPISTLES.

1. ST. PETER and his Epistles. Peter, one of the twelve apostles, at first called Simon, and afterward surnamed Cephas, or Peter, signifying stone or rock, was the son of Jonas, or Jonah, and was born at Bethsaida, on the coast of the Sea of Galilee.

2. His brother Andrew, who had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and first became a follower of Jesus Christ, pursued jointly with him the occupation of fisherman on the sea. Andrew was present when John the Baptist pointed out Jesus to his disciples, and added, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world;" and meeting Simon shortly afterward, said, "We have found the Messiah,"