falling away, or apostasy, was the evil spoken of in this place.

18. The next proof of the proposi. tion we have in verse 25, of the same chapter. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not, who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if WE TURN FROM HIM, αποτρεφόμενοι, or turning away from him that speaketh from heaven. The evil here spoken of is, TURNING AWAY from him that speaketh from heaven; that is, from Christ. But the question is, What is meant by turning away from him? It cannot mean, to turn away so as never to give him a hearing: seeing that these Hebrews had already heard him in this sense, as we learn from chap. ii. verse 1, yea, and believed in him also, to the saving of the soul, chap. x. ver. 38. Therefore to turn away from him must signify, to discontinue their hearing of him or, to refuse to PERSEVERE in hearing him.--This is evident from hence, that the turning away with

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which the apostle compared what he intended here, was of this sort. The Israelites of old had for some time hearkened to, and obeyed Moses when they were in Egypt; but when they were got through the Red Sea, into the wilderness, they turned away, they rebelled against him, and would not hearken unto him any longer: see Numb. xvi. Certain it is, then, that the turning away here spoken of by the apostle, was that of APOSTASY. And concerning the ancient Israelites, I would observe, that their turning away from him who spake on earth was TOTAL and FINAL: seeing they escaped not, as the apostle tells us; but died without mercy. therefore follows, that the turning away from Christ, which the apostle compares with that turning away from him who spake on earth, is TOTAL and FINAL also.

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19. The last evidence, of this sort, which I shall bring, we have, verses 28, 29. "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let

us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence, and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." The question here is, What are we to understand by having grace? The words in the original are, Εχωμεν χάριν, and are often rendered HOLD FAST grace; and it is thus that our English translators have rendered. them in the margin. "It is the observation of critics here and elsewhere, says Dr. Whitby, that exu, to have, is often put for narx, tO RETAIN and HOLD FAST: 50 έχειν τις και αγαθην συνειδησιν, is to HOLD FAST faith, and a good conscience, 1 Tim. 1. 19. έχειν το μυσήριον της πισέως, 10 HOLD the mystery of faith ; υποτυπωσιν έχειν, to HOLD FAST the form of sound words, 2. Tim. i. 13." And that the words must be rendered thus, in the passage under consideration, is evident. For as these Hebrews were Christian believers at the time the apostle wrote to them, they must be supposed to be in possession of grace;

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of consequence, if, by having grace, the apostle meant, let us endeavour to get possession of it; this would be to say, let us labour to get that which we have already! But, on the other hand, if we suppose them first, to be in possession of grace, and, secondly, to be in danger of losing it, the apostle's exhortation to hold it fast, and not to let it go on any consideration, was very necessary and proper. is therefore evident, that when the apostle said, let us have grace, his meaning was, let us hold it fast, and, by so doing, continue to have it.Accordingly the learned Diodati expounds it, "Let us-KEEP ourselves in the fruition of God's grace, and of the gift of his Spirit,"* Mr. G. M. in his very judicious comment on the place saith," Have is here put for RETAIN OF HOLD." And Professor Dickson hath it, "Let us have grace, or HOLD FAST THE GRIP of GRACE.""Let us HOLD FAST GRACE," said the

*See Diodati on the place. † Dickson on the place.

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Continuators of Pool:*-said the Assembly of Divines :t-said Samuel Clarke. Grotius and Piscator say, Η εχωμεν, το κατεχωμεν,” let us have, for LET US RETAIN.§ 66 έχειν, pro κρατειν,39 says Beza, to have, for TO HOLD FAST. So that the meaning of those expressions (to use the words of Beza, Estius, and Jacobus Capellus) is, " Firmiter retineamus, nec ullis tentationibus ab eâ nos sinamus revelli:" Let us firmly RETAIN GRACE, nor let us suffer it to be TORN FROM US by any temptations. Agreeably to all this, the Dutch Annotators render it, "Let us hold (fast) grace [namely, which we have already received."]**

Again, that the apostle here supposed the Hebrews to be in danger of TOTAL and FINAL apostasy is evident from the following words, For our Gop is, Πυρ καταναλισκον, a consuming fire. This indeed his very name im

*Pool's Comment. † Assembly's Annotations. Clarke's Comment. Grotius et Piscator in loc. Beza in loc. Syn. Crit. in **Dutch Annot. on the place.

loc.