his epistle shows Christ as the end, foundation, body, and
truth of the figures of the law, which of themselves were no
virtue for the soul. The great truth set forth in this epistle
is that Jesus of Nazareth is the true God. The unconverted Jews
used many arguments to draw their converted brethren from the
Christian faith. They represented the law of Moses as superior
to the Christian dispensation, and spoke against every thing
connected with the Saviour. The apostle, therefore, shows the
superiority of Jesus of Nazareth, as the Son of God, and the
benefits from his sufferings and death as the sacrifice for sin,
so that the Christian religion is much more excellent and
perfect than that of Moses. And the principal design seems to
be, to bring the converted Hebrews forward in the knowledge of
the gospel, and thus to establish them in the Christian faith,
and to prevent their turning from it, against which they are
earnestly warned. But while it contains many things suitable to
the Hebrews of early times, it also contains many which can
never cease to interest the church of God; for the knowledge of
Jesus Christ is the very marrow and kernel of all the
Scriptures. The ceremonial law is full of Christ, and all the
gospel is full of Christ; the blessed lines of both Testaments
meet in Him; and how they both agree and sweetly unite in Jesus
Christ, is the chief object of the epistle to the Hebrews to
discover.