THE

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS,

THE EPISTLES OF

JAMES, PETER, JOHN AND JUDE,

AND THE

REVELATION OF JOHN THE DIVINE,

WITH

A COMMENTARY AND ESSAYS.

BY

ABIEL ABBOT LIVERMORE.

Meadville, Penn.

DIVINITY ECEOOT

LIBRARY

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

BOSTON:

LOCKWOOD, BROOKS AND COMPANY.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by A. A. LIVERMORE,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

PREFACE.

IN bringing this Commentary on the books of the New Testament to a close, it is a natural prompting on the part of the writer and perhaps of the reader to ask what have been the conclusions arrived at in regard to the great questions of theology. This is no time or place to discuss these topics at length, or to do more in a preface than to indicate some of the principal lines of thought. It has not been my object to build up a system, but to be a docile pupil of the Christian teaching and record, what seemed to be its plain and unforced import. It is too vast and majestic an edifice, has foundations too deep, and rises aloft too high to be fully comprehended or exhausted by any one mind. Like the God from whom it came, the problem of the human soul of which it treats, and the eternity to which it leads the way, it contains elements of truth and power incomputable, mysterious and ever challenging new and further advance of thought. The most that can be done in these few pages is to outline a few of the impressions left upon the mind by this imperfect survey.

GOD.

The lessons of the Christian Scriptures on this highest and holiest theme are not argumentative, but illustrative. They contain no hard-wrought proofs of the existence of a