He is so much superiour to the angels, as the authority he possesses is more excellent than theirs.

But to which of the angels did he ever say, "sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?"

thou hast made him for a while lower than the angels; thou hast crown'd him with glory and honour, and hast set him over the works of thy hands:

Since then the children were made subject to a state of mortality, so he himself likewise was subject to the same condition: that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

but as the architect is of much greater dignity than the house he has made; so the glory which Christ received was greater than that of Moses.

Since there remains then a rest which some are still to enter into, for they to whom the promise was first made, did not enter in, because of their incredulity;

then he that enters into divine rest, will indeed rest from his works, as God did from his.

for the word of God is active and efficacious, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even to the division of soul and spirit, to the smallest and most inward parts, distinguishing the thoughts, and intentions of the heart.

so that there is not a creature that is concealed from his view: but all is naked and open to the eyes of him of whom we speak. Having then so great a high priest,

for though by this time you ought to be capable of teaching others, you want to be instructed anew in the first principles of the divine oracles; and are in such a state as to stand in need of milk, rather than of solid nourishment.

for he was even then in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.

besides, the priesthood then devolv'd to many, death depriving them of a lasting possession.

as those high priests of the law were, to offer up daily sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people: having done this once for all, by offering up himself.

Our high priest then has obtained a priesthood so much the more excellent, as he is the mediator of a better alliance, established upon better promises.

The first alliance then had rites of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

nor to make a frequent offering of himself, as the high priest every year enters into the holy of holies with other blood than his own.

for then must he have suffered several times since the beginning of the world, when in the consummation of the ages, he has appeared once for all to expiate sin by offering himself as a sacrifice.

as then it is appointed that men should die but once, after which the judgment ensues;

for then they would not have been repeated, because they who sacrificed being once purified, would not have been conscious of wanting any further atonement for their sins:

then said I, lo I come, as in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God."

don't you think then that he deserves a much greater punishment, who hath despised the son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith be was sanctified, to have been justly shed, thereby offering an indignity to the spirit of grace?

'Twas by faith that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he was declared righteous, God himself having testified that he accepted his offering, and after he died for his faith, he was not silent.

chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

esteeming the sufferings of Israel greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had an eye to the reward.

but if you were exempted from that discipline which others are subject to, then are you bastards, and not sons.

whose voice then shook the earth: but he has promised to do it now, saying, " yet once more I will shake, not the earth only, but heaven too."

since then we are entring into a kingdom which cannot be changed, let us maintain the divine favour, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and fear.

Jesus Christ is always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. be not then misled by artful, novel doctrines:

for the mind is better improv'd by the gospel-dispensation, than by the distinctions about meats, in which some have been so uselesly vers'd.

than the sacrificers had to eat of the flesh of those beasts, which were burnt without the camp, and whose blood the highpriest carried into the sanctuary.

Let our sacrifice then, which we are to offer to God by Jesus Christ, be that of incessant praises, the offering of our lips, which celebrate his name: