They shall perish, but thou remainest; As a garment they shall all grow old;

As a mantle thou wilt fold them up, And as a garment they shall be changed, But thou art the same, and thy years shall know no end.'

Harden not your hearts, as when Israel provoked me on the day when they tried my patience in the desert,

Therefore I was sorely vexed with that generation, And I said-- "Their hearts are always straying; They have never learned my ways";

While in my wrath I swore-- "They shall never enter upon my Rest."'

Who were they who heard God speak and yet provoked him? Were not they all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?

And who were they to whom God swore that they should not enter upon his rest, if not those who had proved faithless?

We see, then, that they failed to enter upon it because of their want of faith.

For we have had the Good News told us just as they had. But the Message which they heard did them no good, since they did not share the faith of those who were attentive to it.

Upon that Rest we who have believed are now entering. As God has said-- 'In my wrath I swore--"They shall never enter upon my Rest;"' Although God's work was finished at the creation of the world;

On the other hand, we read in that passage-- ' They shall never enter upon my Rest.'

if those, I say, fell away, it would be impossible to bring them again to repentance; they would be crucifying the Son of God over again for themselves, and exposing him to open contempt.

Those descendants of Levi, who are from time to time appointed to the priesthood, are directed to collect tithes from the people in accordance with the Law--that is from their own Brothers, although they also are descended from Abraham.

Not such a Covenant as I made with their ancestors on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not abide by their Covenant with me, And therefore I disregarded them," says the Lord.

"This is the Covenant that I will make with the People of Israel After those days," says the Lord. "I will impress my laws on their minds, and will inscribe them on their hearts; And I will be their God, and they shall be my People.

The Law, though able to foreshadow the Better System which was coming, never had its actual substance. Its priests, with those sacrifices which they offer continuously year after year, can never make those who come to worship perfect.

How much worse then, think you, will be the punishment deserved by those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God, who have treated the blood that rendered the Covenant valid--the very blood by which they were purified--as of no account, and who have outraged the Spirit of Love?

All these died sustained by faith. They did not obtain the promised blessings, but they saw them from a distance and welcomed the sight, and they acknowledged themselves to be only aliens and strangers on the earth.

Those who speak thus show plainly that they are seeking their fatherland.

If they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they could have found opportunities to return.

But no, they were longing for a better, a heavenly, land! And therefore God was not ashamed to be called their God; indeed he had already prepared them a city.

Faith caused the parents of Moses to hide the child for three months after his birth, for they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they would not respect the King's order.

Faith enabled the people to cross the Red Sea, as if it had been dry land, while the Egyptians, when they attempted to do so, were drowned.

By their faith they subdued kingdoms, ruled righteously, gained the fulfillment of God's promises, 'shut the mouths of lions,'

Women received back their dead raised to life. Some were tortured on the wheel, and refused release in order that they might rise to a better life.

They were stoned to death, they were tortured, they were swan asunder, they were put to the sword; they wandered about clothed in the skins of sheep or goats, destitute, persecuted, ill-used--

Yet, though they all won renown by their faith, they did not obtain the final fulfillment of God's promise;

since God had in view some better thing for us, that they, apart from us, should not attain perfection.

and the blast of a trumpet, and an audible voice.' Those who heard that voice entreated that they might hear no more,

for they could not bear to think of the command-- 'If even an animal touches the mountain, it is to be stoned to death;'

Beware how you refuse to hear him who is speaking. For, if the Israelites did not escape punishment, when they refused to listen to him who taught them on earth the divine will, far worse will it be for us, if we turn away from him who is teaching us from Heaven.

Obey your Leaders, and submit to their control, for they are watching over your souls, as men who will have to render an account, so that they may do it with joy, and not in sorrow. That would not be to your advantage.