Author of the Epistle
Rev. WILLIAM T. BULLOCK, M. A.—During the first century after this epistle was written, there was not one dissentient voice respecting its canonical authority: it was received by Clement, writing from Rome; by Justin Martyr, familiar with the traditions of Italy and Asia; by his contemporaries, Pinytus the Cretan bishop, and the predecessors of Clement and Origen at Alexandria; and by the compilers of the Peshito version of the New Testament. Afterward a temporary doubt concerning its authorship arose in some of the Latin churches. The church of Jerusalem, as the original receiver of the epistle, was the depository of that oral testimony on which both its authorship and canonical authority rested, and was the fountain-head of information which satisfied the Eastern and Greek churches. But the church of Jerusalem was early hidden in exile and obscurity. And Palestine, after the destruction of Jerusalem, became unknown ground to that class of “dwellers in Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome," who once maintained close religious intercourse with it.
All these considerations may help to account for the fact that the Latin churches hesitated to receive this epistle, for a time. All the rest of orthodox Christendom from the beginning was agreed upon the canonical authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews. No Greek or Syriac writer ever expressed a doubt. It was acknowledged in various public documents; received by the framers of the Apostolic Constitutions, A. D. 250; quoted in the epistle of the Synod of Antioch, A. D. 269; appealed to by the debaters in the first Council of Nice, A. D. 325; included' in that catalog of canonical books which was added to the canons of 'the Council of. Laodicea, A. D. 365; and sanctioned by the Quinisextine Council at Constantinople, A. D. 692. The canonical authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews is then secure, so far as it can be established by the tradition of Christian churches. The doubts which affected it were admitted in remote places, or in the failure of knowledge, or under the pressure of times, of intellectual excitement; and they have disappeared before full information and calm judgment.-Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 1023.
Creation's Change and Dissolution
SIR WILLIAM THOMSON.—1. There is pat present, in the material world, a universal tendency to the dissipation of mechanical energy. 2. Any restoration of mechanical energy, without more than equivalent dissipation, is impossible to inanimate material processes, and is probably never effected by means of organized matter, either endowed with vegetable life or subjected to the will of an animated creature. 3. Within a finite period of time past, the earth must have been, and within a finite period of time to come, the earth must again be, unfit for habitation of man as at present constituted, unless operations have been, or are to be, performed, which are impossible under the laws to which the known operations going on at present in the material world are subject.—Transactions of the Royal Society, 1852.
DR. WILLIAM FRASER. —Inexorable fact and demonstration have not only dissipated perpetually recurrent theories as to the eternity of the present material system, but furnished presumptive evidence of a new and higher order of existences. These remarkable conclusions not only confirm the Bible declaration as to a commencement, but with prophetic directness they sustain its delineations of change and dissolution, and of the establishment of new heavens and a new earth.—Blending Lights, p. 25.
Ministering Angels
HESIOD.—
Earth hovering spirits they their charge began,
The ministers of good, and guards of men;
Mantled with mists of darkening air they glide,
And compass earth and pass on every side,
And mark with earnest vigilance of eyes,
Where just deeds live, 'or crooked wrongs arise;
And shower the wealth of seasons from above,
Their kingly office, delegate from Jove.
—Oper. et Dies, v. 121.
PLUTARCH.—There is a third kind of providence, viz., that of the angels (daimonia), who are placed and ordained about the earth, as superintendents, to observe and watch over the deeds of men.— De Fat., c. 9.
Fear of Death
GIBBON.—The writings of Cicero represent in the most lively colors the ignorance, the errors, and the uncertainty of the ancient philosophers with regard to the immortality of the soul... Since therefore the most sublime efforts of philosophy can extend no farther than feebly to point out the desire, the hope, or, at most, the probability, of a future state, there is nothing, except a divine revelation, that can ascertain the existence, and describe the condition, of the invisible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after their separation from the body.—Decline and Fall, Chapter 15
SHAKSPEARE.—
Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life;
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscovered country from whose bourne
No traveler returns,-puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.
—Hamlet.
Fellow-Feeling
VIRGIL—
For I myself like you have been distressed,
Till heaven afforded me this place of rest:
Like you, an alien in a land unknown,
I learn to pity woes so like my own.
—Æn., I., 628.
The Honor due the Master Builder
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—The architect is worthy of more respect than the house he has made. He exhibits intellect and skill; the house, however splendid, has neither. The plan of the house was drawn by him; its beauty, its proportions, its ornaments, are what he made them, and but for him they would not have existed. Michael Angelo was worthy of more honor than St. Peter's at Rome; and Sir Christopher Wren worthy of more than St. Paul's at London. Galileo is worthy of more praise than the Telescope, and Fulton more than a Steam-engine. All the evidence of skill and adeptness that there is in the invention had its origin in the inventor; all the beauty of the statue or the temple had its origin in the mind of him that designed it. An author is worthy of more honor than a book; and he that forms a work of art is worthy of more respect than the work itself.—Now, Lie that built all things is God! —Note, In loco.
Faith Necessary to Profit
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—How can a man be profited by the records of history if he does not believe them? How can he be benefited by the truths of science if he does not believe them? So of the knowledge of salvation.—Note, In loco.
All Naked and Open to God
HESIOD.—Jove's all-seeing and all-knowing eye Discerns at pleasure things that hidden lie.— Op. et. Di., v. 265.
PLUTARCH.—God is not ignorant of the nature and disposition of every man.—De ser. num. vind., c. 20.
EPICTETUS.—God sees and hears every thought.—Epict., II., 8.
LUCIAN.—Man may not see thee do an impious deed; But God thy very inmost thought can read.—Phil., ep. 9.
Milk for Children
EPICTETUS.—Will you not be weaned from your milk like children, and adapt yourselves for strong meat?—Epict., II., 16.
All Must Die
SENECA.—All mankind, whoever are or shall be, are condemned to die. All those flourishing cities that have the world at command, and all the greatness and splendor of foreign empires, in whatever part of the globe, shall one day fall into various kind of ruins and be no more. Why then should I complain or be grieved, if I precede the general fate of things by a few moments?—Epist., 71.
The Christian Assembly
PLINY.—Those who confessed that they had once been Christians, but had abandoned that profession, asserted at the same time that this had been the sum of their fault or error, namely, that they were accustomed to meet together on a certain day before the dawn, to repeat alternately among themselves hymn's to Christ as God, and to bind themselves by an oath, not to any evil purpose, but that they would not be guilty of theft, robbery, adultery, or dishonesty; which being done, they departed, but assembled again to eat food in common, and in an harmless manner.—Epistle to Trojan.
Faith Indispensable
SENECA.—The first step to the right worship of God is to believe that there is a God. And next, to ascribe to him all majesty, and goodness, without which true majesty cannot subsist; to know likewise that it is he who governs the world and presides over the universe as his own, who hath taken mankind in general under his protection, and on some is pleased to bestow particular favor. He can neither do nor suffer evil. —Epist., 95.
Strangers and Pilgrims
PLUTARCH.—Empedocles showeth that all men are but strangers, passengers, foreigners, and exiles in the world.—De Exil., c. 18.
Firm Endurance
SENECA.—Why do you wonder at my saying, that some rejoice in being burned, wounded, bound in chains, and slain, nay, that sometimes they have made it their choice.—Epist., 71.
ARISTOPHANES.—May I perish, and be sawn in two.—Equit., v. 765.
Ignominy of the Cross
GIBBON.—An instrument of the tortures which were inflicted only on slaves and strangers, became an object of horror in the eyes of a Roman citizen; and the ideas of guilt, of pain, and of ignominy, were closely united with the idea of the CROSS.—Decline and Fall, c. xx.
CICERO.—In the middle of the forum of Messana, a Roman citizen, O judges, was beaten with rods; and a cross, a cross, I say, was prepared for him.—In Verr. VI., 62.
IDEM.—Even if death be threatened, we may die freemen; but the executioner, and the veiling of the head, and the very name of the cross should be far removed, not only from the persons of Roman citizens, but from their thoughts, and eyes, and ears; the bare possibility of being exposed to these things, the mere mention of them is unworthy of a Roman citizen and of a freeman.—Pro. Rab., c. 5.
Divine Chastisement
MAXIMUS TYRIUS.—To all these wanderings and sufferings the Divinity exposed him with benevolent intentions. These exercises were assigned to him by a divine allotment, through which he both was, and appeared to be, a worthy man.—Diss., 22.
SENECA.—The gods neither suffer evil themselves, nor inflict it upon others; though they sometimes chastise and lay heavy afflictions upon some persons, which have the appearance of Evil.—Epist., 95.
PLATO.—The art which makes men better is that which chastises properly, and knows the good and bad.—Amator., c. 7.
MENANDER.—Let no one be too much cast down in adversity: perhaps this may be the occasion of good.—Apud Stab., 108.
CATO.—I had rather my good actions should go unrewarded than my bad ones uncorrected.— Plut. Cat. Maj., c. 8.
Sympathy for the Imprisoned
LUCIAN.—Proteus, being accused of worshipping the famous Magus (Jesus Christ), who was crucified in Palestine for having introduced novel mysteries into the world, was arrested and thrown into prison; a circumstance that contributed not a little to fan in him that singular vanity which had actuated him through life. For no sooner was he in confinement than the Christians, who looked upon it as a great disappointment to the common cause, attempted by all possible means to procure his enlargement from prison; and not succeeding, they let, him at least want for nothing, and were the more assiduous in affording him every supply that could conduce to his accommodation and comfort. By the first dawn of day a number of old women and deaconesses, and young orphans, were seen hovering about the prison; some of the most principal even bribed the jailers, and passed whole nights with him. Likewise sumptuous meals were carried in to him; and they read their sacred books together. Several even came from different cities in Asia, as deputies from the Christians in those parts, to offer their assistance and to be his advocates on his trial, and to comfort him.—De Morte Pereg., c. 12, 13.