Hebrews 8:13 - Homilies By W. Jones

Decaying and departing.

"Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, " etc. In these words the writer states a general principle of which the old covenant was an illustration. That covenant was relatively old, because a new one had been introduced; it was also absolutely old, and had not "in itself the strength to exist much longer." When anything arrives at that condition its end is not far off—it "is nigh unto vanishing away." Let us indicate a few of the applications of this principle. It is applicable to—

I. FORMS OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION . In our text it is thus applied to the Mosaic economy. Many of our present religious forms—forms of Church government and forms of worship—are of human origin. If they are vital and suit the circum- stances and conditions of this age, let them be maintained; but if they do not, and cannot be made to do so, by all means let them go. In fact, a living Church will certainly put off its dead forms by the natural expression of its life. The late A.J. Scott says wisely and beautifully, "True reverence for antiquity seeks a Church presenting the clearest image of eternity in the midst of the mutations of time. This she is to do by the inward vigor of the essential principles of her life, dropping off forms no longer useful, as the oak has done the leaves of last summer. The live oak abides the same by its vitality, while it changes form and dimensions by growth: the mass of squared timber has lost its power of assimilation, its command of resources; death enables it to remain unchanged in form, till death brings decay that changes form and substance. What is dead is changed from without; what lives changes from within." And Dr. Huntington forcibly says, "When religious forms have first been devised, a certain freshness of conviction has gone into them that has made them vital. But presently the life has refused to stand and stagnate in these cisterns, and so ebbed away and sought out new channels. The mistake has been that the forms have insisted on standing, after the life within was gone; and accordingly their figure has been that of wooden vessels shrunk and dried in the sun." Now, where the vitality has gone, let the form go also; for, as Carlyle says, "the old never dies till all the soul of good that was in it has got itself transfused into the practical new." Let the dead forms pass away—

"For who would keep an ancient form?

Through which the spirit breathes no more?"

(Tennyson)

II. FORMS OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF . Much that is said above on religious organizations is equally applicable to religious creeds. As Mr. J.A. Froude puts it, "While the essence of religion remains the same, the mode in which it is expressed changes and has changed—changes as living languages change and become dead, as institutions change, as forms of government change, as opinions on all things in heaven and earth change, as half the theories held at this time among ourselves will probably change—that is, the outward and mortal part of them." The living faith of the Church may need restatement. The language in which man's apprehension of the great verities of the gospel was expressed in past ages may become stiff, cold, unexpressive, and obsolete as regards the apprehension of those verities in this age. Then let it go. And reverently in the living language of today, let the living faith of today be expressed. The living faith—that is the great thing. "A living doctrine never need advertise for a body, nor go carefully about to invent one, any more than a young oak needs to advertise for a trunk and branches. God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him. Get the faith, and it will shape a form of its own."

III. HUMAN LIFE IN THIS WORLD . If life be so far prolonged, the time comes when the human form becomes old and waxeth aged and is nigh unto vanishing away. "The days of our years are threescore years and ten," etc. ( Psalms 90:10 ). When the earthly house of our tabernacle is worn out we know that it will soon be dissolved. The departing vitality tells us that the body itself will soon vanish away. Its decrepitude heralds its disappearance. This is a reason:

1. Why the aged should live in readiness for their departure hence .

2. Why the aged should be treated with considerate kindness .

Their age has a claim upon our respect, unless its character forbids respect, and then it should elicit our pity. Their feebleness makes its silent and touching appeal to us for support. And they will soon be beyond our sight and our services. By the help of God let us seek so to live that, when the time of our departure draws near, we may be ready to leave this world, having finished our work, and to enter upon the, to us, unknown future, having committed ourselves to the keeping of the "great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ."—W.J.