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£xhx<xvy of trhe trheolojical ^^mimty 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
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 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of 
 Victor K, Li-ikens 
 
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CHRIST AND HIS SEED. 
 
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 V MArt 12 195 
 
 CHRIST AND HIS SEED: 
 
 CENTRAL TO ALL THINGS 
 
 BEING A SERIES OF EXPOSITORY DISCOURSES IN PAUL'S 
 EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 
 
 BY JOHN PULSFORD. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'QUIET HOURS.' 
 
 " He shall see His Seed." — Isaiah. 
 
 "Behold! I and the children, which God hath given Me." 
 
 Isaiah and Paul. 
 
 LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO, 
 
 EDINBURGH: EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. 
 
 1872. 
 
TURNIiULI, AND Sl'EARS, PRINTERS, EDINBIRGH. 
 
A BRIEF SUMMARY. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 I. 
 
 Paul salutes the faithful in Christ Jesus ; extols God the 
 Father as the Fountain of Life and Blessing, and takes a 
 general survey of the purpose and plan of His Love towards us. 
 
 Chap. i. 1-14. 
 
 Saul becomes Paul. Opposition to Christ is always shallow. "Saints." "The 
 faithful." Peace. The new man outbreathes a life from God. Life's 
 River traced to its Source. The Blessed Father. The God and Father of 
 our Lord. The true mirror of God's Glory. Our blessings in Christ. The 
 spurious spiritual. .... CHAP. I. 1-3. P. 4-11. 
 
 The Antiquity of our final Humanity. Our predestination is in Jesus Christ. 
 Strive to enter into God's Election. The glory and praise of God's grace. 
 The Blood of Christ — not physical. Forgiveness, a work of God. The 
 ever-flowing blood of redeinption. The " wisdom and prudence " of Divine 
 grace. ..... Chap. i. 4-8. P. 11-18. 
 
 The original Purpose of God. The strife and division of the universe. Hell, a 
 serious loss to Heaven. The material universe. The unity which is to be. 
 The burden of prophecy. Ignorance of the natural mind. The great Cross 
 of God. Peace is made, and will grow to universal empire. 
 
 Chap. i. 9, 10. P, 18-25. 
 
 Jews, the first believers in Christ. " Follow Me." Christ is the Christ of all 
 nations. " Great Pan is dead." A strange thing. The Living Truth of 
 to-day is The Christ. " The Gospel of our salvation " is " The Word of 
 Truth." Believers are " sealed." " The earnest of our inheritance." " The 
 purchased possession." . . . Chap. I. 11-14. P. 25-32. 
 
VI Summary. 
 
 II. 
 
 Paul's marvellous prayer on behalf of his fellow-believers. 
 
 CiiAr, I. 15-23. 
 
 Faith and Love, immense affections. Master-minds. Noble-mindedness and 
 noblc-heartedness make one. Paul's prayer. " The spirit of wisdom and 
 revelation." The " eyes of the heart." The Father's peculiar inheritance. 
 Our future standing in the kingdom of His Son. 
 
 Chap. i. 15-18. P. 33-40. 
 
 Another effect of the spirit of illumination. Go into Christ's tomb for an illus- 
 tration of the Power which is working in us. The changes in our Lord's 
 Humanity subsequent to His Resurrection and His Ascension. Nothing 
 arbitrary in the elevation of man. All things subject to Christ, for His 
 body's sake. The great calamity. . . Chap. I. 19-23. P. 40-46. 
 
 III. 
 
 The striking contrast between the natural condition of men, 
 and their new condition in Christ Jesus. Chap. ii. 
 
 The highest are the humblest creatures. Danger of rejecting unpalateable 
 truth. "This world." How the cross may be escaped. An apology for 
 men. "The Prince of the Power of the air." A Parable. Union with 
 Christ, our only hope of salvation. . , CHAP. II. 1-3. P. 47-55. 
 
 ^ A contrast. The greatness of Love. The work of Love. The method of Love. 
 The trial of the new life. " It is finished" in Christ. Our human joy. Our 
 mountain-city central to all the heavenly mansions. We, and our dead, 
 one communion in Christ. The Study for the ages to come. 
 
 Chap. 11. 4-7. P. 55-64, 
 
 -^ Division from the beginning. Hail to the floods, of Matt. vii. 27. Salvation of 
 Ciod, through faith. The deep foundations of human freedom. The fruit 
 of the new nature. Re-made by Ciod in Christ Jesus. 
 
 Chap. ii. S-io. P. 65-70. 
 
 Circumcision is nothing. The unity ot men is older than their division. Christ 
 and the flesh — the contrast. " Made nigh," in a now blood. Every blood 
 makes its own nature. . . . Chap. 11. 11-13. P. 71-76. 
 
 '^ The great Peace, and how made. Not a new nationality, but New Humanity. 
 By His Spirit, Christ preaches His own Peace. Access to the Father. 
 
 Chap. ii. 14-18. P. 77-81. 
 
 'Ni The members of Christ greatly at home in Heaven. Natural things very parti- 
 cularly express spiritual. A good analogy. A better analogy. No member 
 of Christ can finally be out of his plan. The growth of the new kingdom. 
 Law of growth. Inspiring thought. Hindrances. The law of reverence. 
 
 Chap. 11. 19-22. P. 81-86. 
 
Smmnary. vii 
 
 IV. 
 
 With great humility and pathos, he admires the grace which 
 had called and qualified him to make known the unsearchable 
 riches of Truth, and glories of Love, which are accessible to 
 all men. Chap. hi. 1-13. 
 
 Parenthesis. All for Christ. A sufferer for the Gentiles. Paul's revelation. The 
 reserve of God. .... Chap. ill. i-6. P. 87-92. 
 
 The Gospel freed from Judaism. The spirit of Paul must awake once more. 
 " Unsearchable riches" for men of all nations. Missing right reason and 
 wealth. ..... Chap. hi. 7, 8. P. 93-98. 
 
 Creation not hitherto complete. Paul's insight into the mystery. Angels are 
 scholars of the kingdom of Christ. Redemption and Hell. Our angel- 
 friends. Mutual sympathies preparatory to union. The bearing of men 
 before the angels. Hesitancy dishonours Christ. The sufferings of be- 
 lievers are our gain. . . . Chap, III. 9-13. P. 98-105. 
 
 V. 
 
 He renews his prayer, that believers may be strengthened 
 and enlarged. Chap. hi. 14-19. 
 
 ^ The root of all Fatherhood. Heaven and earth. Greatness of Heaven — in- 
 comprehensible. Trao-a -Karpih.. Sacredness of family-relationship. Heart- 
 solace. Babes. Personal inquiry. Interesting problem. The inner man 
 lost in the outer man. The strength of Immortality. The supply. It 
 descends with great desire. Attract it. The Power is Christ. The only 
 saving faith. Love is faith's root or living heart. Perception springs 
 from Love. Fellowship with all saints in God's Love, The Love of God 
 will carry us beyond all past experience. Chap, ill. 14-19. P, 106-119. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Doxology. Chap. in. 20, 21, 
 
 \^ Thought is bold, but not bold enough. We are hidden from ourselves. Divine 
 Power offers no violence to our freedom. God's glory, sure in Christ. The 
 future, and its glory, greater than can be revealed, . . P. 120-125, 
 
viii Stmimary. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Sundry duties, qualifications, and privileges of believers. 
 
 Chap. iv. to Chap. vi. 20. 
 
 ^ T. Our life and character should correspond with our calling 
 in Christ. Especially a tender love towards each other should 
 be cultivated. 
 
 Freedom in bonds. The might of meekness. The spirit of our calling. The 
 way to heaven. From your idea of heaven, subtract mere blaze and add 
 sweetness. .... Chap. iv. i, 2. P. 126-132. 
 
 "^^^ 2. We must aim at completeness, viz., "to keep the unity 
 of the Spirit," which includes a rich diversity. 
 
 The bond broken long ago. The fulness of the unity. The joy of this unity. 
 Division, how long.' A sign. The Divine endeavour. . The body of 
 Peace. The seven-fold fulness of the Unity. " One body," not material. 
 "Onehopeofour caUing." "One Lord." "One Faith." "One Baptism." 
 "One God and Father of all." . . Chap. iv. 3-6. P. 132-143. 
 
 Each one has his own measure of the heavenly gift. Christ's universal con- 
 quests : — over all the powers of the flesh, and of the world, — over sin and 
 death, — over Hades, and over Heaven. His new powers are gifts for men. 
 The new kingdom. Universal Headship is universal service 
 
 Chap. iv. 7-10. P. 143-148. 
 
 "Xy 3. A great variety of ministry is provided to build up in 
 believing men the full results of the Incarnation and Glori- 
 fication of our Lord. 
 
 The all-inclusive gift. Apostles. Prophets. Evangelists. Pastors and 
 Teachers. The perfecting of believers. " Perfect man." The knowledge 
 of the Son of God reserved till we are all perfect. Inspiring thought. 
 
 Chap. iv. 11-13. P. 148-153. 
 
 ^ 4. As believers, we are called to the noble life -long 
 endeavour, to put off our degenerate nature, and to put on our 
 new nature in the Son of God. 
 
 Distinct sources of thought. Doctrines about Christ, are not Christ. The Spirit 
 of Love is essentia! to growth. The conijjact unity of the body. A sad 
 reflection. Paul's earnestness. The vain mind. The positive character 
 of ignorance. Past feeling. Awful issue. . Chap. IV. 14-19. P. 153-159. 
 
 To be taught by Paul not enough. The subject in brief More fully. A greater 
 attraction than our own nature. The question. Joyful news. " Our house 
 which is from heaven," growing under the cross. 
 
 Chap. iv. 20-24. P- 159-164. 
 
Summary. ix 
 
 / 5. We must watch against lying. 
 
 A daily cross. Rooted evils, to be rebuked unto death. The charm of artless- 
 ness Chap. iv. 25. P. 164-167. 
 
 6. Against anger. 
 
 Sinless anger. Deadly anger. Provide not room for the devil. 
 
 Chap. iv. 26, 27. P. 167-168. 
 
 7. Against theft. 
 
 Wonders of renewing grace. Help men by your hope of them. Refined stealing. 
 Divers sorts of stealing. Work, that you may be generous. 
 
 Chap. iv. 28. P. 168-170. 
 
 8. Against corrupt and pohuting speech. 
 
 Burv your own corruption. Give Jesus your tongue. 
 
 Chap. iv. 29. P. 170-172. 
 
 9. Against giving pain to the Holy Spirit. 
 
 A tender appeal. The sensibility of the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Cove- 
 nant The day of redemption. Put away your hard spirit. Amiability, 
 not grace. . • • • • Chap. iv. 30. P. 172-174. 
 
 \/ 10. We must aim to supplant all bitterness of spirit by 
 the Spirit of Love. 
 
 Put on grace towards all men. Be to them what you wish God to be to you. 
 Uv xpi-<rTi^ is not " for Christ's sake." Copy God, by copying Christ. The 
 Beauty of God is also Beauty for men. The gain of sacrifice. 
 
 Chap. iv. 31, to Chap. v. i, 2. P. 174-177. 
 
 V/ 1 1 . We must watch against every species of impurity, covet- 
 ousness, and frivolousness, and walk as children of the light. 
 
 Christ has overthrown the old world. Way to hell. Covetousness also is a 
 way. Foolish talking and jesting. An offence against the dignity of our 
 new hfe. The enticing gospel, which is not after Christ. The way of pre- 
 sumption and delusion. The fruit of the Light, Christ. 
 
 ^ Chap. v. 3-10. P. 178-184. 
 
 Satan's master-piece. Stand fast in the Lord. Put on meekness. Look at 
 home. Christ, the Light. A death hath passed on all men. The 
 Awakener is in every sleeper. . . Chap. v. u -14. P. 185-189. 
 
X Stimmary, 
 
 \j 12. We must redeem time from time : to live in Christ is 
 to serve eternity. 
 
 Walk carefully. Make time serve your eternal good. 
 
 Chap. v. 15-17. P. 189-191. 
 
 13. We should carry a charm against every excess, by the 
 indwelling of the Spirit of Divine Joy. 
 
 Duty and inclination at one. The end of life. We shall find our own place. A 
 hint of our origin. Not spirit, but the Spirit. God's generosity in the pro- 
 vision of excitement. Divine inebriation. A charmed soul. The nature 
 of desire. Parable. Origin of music and song. Prayer. Let joy overflow 
 in song. A pure joy in sorrow. The spirit is as humble as lofty. 
 
 Chap. v. 18-21. P. 191-198. 
 
 14. Wives have a gracious opportunity. 
 
 God Himself the base, and Christ, the Spirit of all the orders of society. The 
 unenvied dignity. The greatness of Christ. The wife's freedom and joy. 
 Fair without, fairer within. . . . Chap. v. 22-24. P. 199-201. 
 
 15. Husbands, after the example of Christ, should make 
 the submission of their wives a very free virtue. 
 
 Husbands, not exactors. Christ's praise. High standard. The medium of 
 cleansing. Perfect in beauty. Marriage, a shadow of a higher mystery. 
 The Last Adam strictly the P^irst. . . Chap. V. 25-33. ?• 201-207. 
 
 16. The duty and reward of children. 
 
 The root of heaven, or hell, struck in the nurseiy. Impose obedience. The 
 law of creation dictates obedience. God's prescription for the children's 
 good. Motherliness of Heaven,— and the Church. 
 
 Chap. vi. 1-3. P. 207-212. 
 
 1 7. Caution for parents. 
 
 The wrathful element. The Jesus-element. The law of heavenly growth. 
 Much to be done before reason shows itself. Chap. vi. 4. P. 212-215. 
 
 18. Servants are encouraged to win a recompense from 
 Christ. 
 
 All men have one Father, &c. The judgment of eternity not to be assumed in 
 this life. Force of fear and trembling. A remedy against servility and 
 hvpocrisy. The spirit of present service a rule of future judgment. 
 ^^ Chap. VI. 5-8. P. 215-218. 
 
 19. Masters are reminded that their Master is in Heaven. 
 
 Masters no advantage before God. A delusion. As you sow you will reap. 
 
 Chap. vi. 9. P. 218, 219. 
 
Summary. xi 
 
 20. We must put on the Divine armour, and defend our 
 eternal all : since the standing which Christ has acquired for 
 us, and the privileges thereof, are fought against by great 
 spiritual powers. 
 
 Change of air. The might and freedom in Christ. A repulsive subject. Our 
 holiday is not yet. The depth. The host of the enemy. One greater than 
 all flesh and the spirits thereof, is come in the flesh. Put on the Supreme 
 Power. The bewitching power of the evil day. 
 
 Chap. vi. 10-13. P- 219-228. 
 
 Spirit-armour. The girdle. The breastplate. The feet shod. The Shield. The 
 Helmet. The Sword. . . . Chap. vi. 14-17. P. 228-236. 
 
 The relation of prayer to the efficiency of the armour. Many kinds of prayer. 
 Prayer for all saints. Pray also for me, Paul. The answer. 
 
 Chap. vi. 18-20. P. 236-241. 
 
 VIII. 
 The Conclusion. Chap. vi. 21-24. 
 
 Tychicus. Advantages of face to face communication. 
 
 Chap. vi. 21, 22. P. 242-244. 
 
 V The brethren and their mutual affections. Peace. Faith and Love. The 
 Trinity. Grace. That one word is all our need. Love to Christ. \v 
 a(t>dap<jLa. .... ChaP. VI. 23, 24. P. 244-248. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ephesus, beautiful for situation, a city of marble and gold, 
 luxury and refinement, was for long a very celebrated centre 
 in this world. The sun, it is said, saw nothing in his whole 
 course more magnificent than the temple of Ephesus. 
 
 The preaching of Paul at Ephesus was like the peal of doom. Paul at 
 Alarm spread throughout all ranks. The whole city was in an Ephesus. 
 uproar. Not only Diana of the Ephesians, but all the gods of 
 Asia and of the world will fall before Jesus, " Whom Paul 
 preacheth." No such power had ever been known as that 
 which accompanied his words. By the space of three years he 
 made Ephesus ring with the New Name, " So that all they 
 who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both 
 Jews and Greeks." Judaism may resist, idolatry and Actsxix. lo. 
 philosophy may resist, but the new Power will prevail. 
 The Roman Empire will break up, but the words and the 
 work of Paul will endure for ever. 
 
 Ephesus may rave against him by the hour, and Athens 
 mock ; but neither of them, nor any city in the world, in which 
 he lifts his voice, will ever more be what it was before. 
 Destruction and re-construction will every where follow his 
 w^ord. More than any man, he will affect the history of the 
 world. He will hold his ascendency over nations of souls for 
 ages. Europe owes more to this man than to all her emperors 
 put together. 
 
 If the Gospel is a feebler power in our hands, perhaps upon An inquiry. 
 inquiry we shall find, that, while in Paul's case, Christ occupied 
 the centre of his soul, and thence reigned over his whole 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Paul's healing 
 power. 
 
 Acts xix. 
 
 12. 
 
 V. 13- 
 
 II. 
 
 I Cor. xvi. 9. 
 
 Tlie mutual 
 U)vc l)ct\vccn 
 I'aul and his 
 converts. 
 
 being ; in our case, He is removed from the centre to an outer 
 and colder region. If so, we need be at no loss to account for 
 our want of power. The January and the June sun are the 
 same sun, but how different the power, and how marvel- 
 lously different the results ! The June sun fills the world with 
 bloom and fruit, the January sun is too feeble to produce even 
 leaves. Let Christ win His way to the throne of our souls ; 
 let Him reign as the Truth in our understandings, and as the 
 Love of God in our hearts ; and a day of new power and glory 
 will break upon the world. 
 
 An exceeding great army are thinking, writing, speaking, 
 and labouring for Christ : in due time, He will fill this host 
 with His Divine Power, and the Age of ages will be ushered 
 in. What if it be already dawning ! 
 
 Paul had not been long in Ephesus before it was discovered, 
 not only that his words were powerful, but that an atmosphere 
 of surpassing virtue emanated from his person : " God wrought 
 special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body 
 were brought unto the sick, handkerchiefs or aprons, and the 
 diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of 
 them." The acknowledged power of the Name, Jesus, became 
 so great in Ephesus, that the Jewish exorcists used it over the 
 possessed, saying, " We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul 
 preacheth." Writing to the Corinthians, concerning his work 
 in Ephesus, he says, " A great door and effectual is opened 
 to me." " So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed," 
 that the magicians and sorcerers who practised occult arts, 
 " brought their books together and burned them before all men." 
 
 Towards converts so suddenly startled into a new life, and 
 so ardent in their first love, as were the Ephesians, Paul was 
 marvellously drawn out. He gave them his soul : he " kept 
 nothing back." His epistle is a monument and testimony for 
 ever, of the surprising riches of understanding, and freedom of 
 utterance, which God gave to him towards this young church. 
 We need not inquire whether it was meant by Paul to be a 
 circular letter. God meant it for all time, and for all men 
 every where, " who are in Christ Jesus." The good which 
 
IntrodiictioJi. 3 
 
 Paul has done by this single letter, it is impossible to estimate; 
 nor has it yet nearly fulhlled its service. It is as " mighty 
 through God " to-day, as it was eighteen centuries ago. It 
 will feed and refresh the Church of God to the end of time. 
 It will be had in everlasting remembrance in heaven. No 
 work, no word, of which the love of Christ is the spring, can 
 ever cease to operate. It has in itself a seed of living power 
 through which it is endlessly reproductive. Works and words 
 which do not spring from the creature's personality, nor from 
 place, nor from time, but from Christ and eternity, must bring 
 forth fruit to God, through all time, unto eternity. 
 
 The depth and endlessness of the relation between Paul and The eternity 
 his Ephesian friends was felt on the sea-shore, on that memorable °^ ^°'^^" 
 day, when his bodily presence was torn from them. " Paul kneeled 
 down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and 
 fell on his neck and kissed him ; sorrowing most of all for the 
 words which he spake, that they should see his face no more." Acts xx. 36-38. 
 
 But no severance of those who are in Christ Jesus can be 
 for long. After the last things on earth, come the new things 
 in heaven. The pain of parting only prepares an intenser joy 
 for the new meeting. The eternal days of God's right hand 
 will witness the glowing unity made by the intense affections 
 which played between Paul, as their father in Christ, and his 
 Ephesian children. 
 
 He sends to them however his "dearly beloved son 
 Timothy," to be his representative, and their minister. It is 
 interesting likewise to know that the beloved disciple, in the 
 latter part of his life, resided at Ephesus. 
 
I. 
 
 PAUL SALUTES THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS ; EXTOLS GOD, THE 
 FATHER, AS THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE AND BLESSING ; AND TAKES 
 A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF HIS LOVE 
 TOW^ARDS US. CHAP. I. I-I4. 
 
 Chap. i. 1-4. Paul, an apostle 0/ jfcsus Christ by 
 the zvill of God, to the saints which are at EpJiesns, and 
 to the faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace be to you, and 
 peace, from God our Father and the Lord jfesiis Christ. 
 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who hath blessed us ivith all spiritual blessings in 
 heavenly places in Christ. 
 
 Saul becomes Vcr. I. '' Paul au apostlc of ^cszcs Ckrtst" 8ic. Is this that 
 ^''^"'- fierce enemy of Jesus, who kept the garments of the men who 
 
 stoned Stephen ? Is this he, who having witnessed the more 
 than human meekness of the first martyr, and having heard him 
 with his last breath pray for his murderers, continued to breathe 
 out " threatenings and slaughters against the disciples of the 
 Lord ? " Yes, and no. It is he; and yet it is not. He is become 
 another man. He was a Pharisee of the straitest sect ; but no 
 trace of his sect remains in him, and not much of the Jew. 
 The Pharisee is dead, the Jew supplanted ; and the universal 
 humanity of the Lord Jesus is quickened and built up in him. 
 In mind, in heart, in character and in purpose, he is a new man; 
 and all thing's are new to him. God is new to him. The 
 Scriptures are new to him. The future is new to him. And 
 he has altogether a new interest in men. It has been made 
 known to him that Jesus, Whom he persecuted, is only another 
 name for The Universal Truth, the Son of God, the Maker of 
 heaven and earth. He perceives therefore, that "every knee 
 
lo, ir. 
 
 The Shallowness of Unbelief. 5 
 
 of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the 
 
 earth," will have to bow to the Name of Jesus, and that " every 
 
 tongue" will have to "confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
 
 glory of God the Father." He perceives that Jesus is the very Phii.ii 
 
 Root, and underlying Spirit of Humanity ; and consequendy 
 
 that He is the Founder and Builder of the only possible human 
 
 kingdom. Ephemeral nationalides, and would-be sovereio-ndes 
 
 there may be ; but he is sure that there will never be another 
 
 King in God, save Jesus, nor another kingdom of the human 
 
 race in God, save the kingdom which is growino- out from 
 
 Christ, and in Christ. His opposition to Him, w^s furious, 
 
 but ignorant and shallow : his devodon to Him is calm and 
 
 profound. His whole reason consents, his heart is at rest. 
 
 Christ can only be opposed by the superficial mind. The Opposition to 
 
 deeper spirit in man can never be made to oppose itself to Christ is ai- 
 
 that Perfect Unity of the Son of God and the Son of Man! of ^'">'^ ^'^^'^'^"• 
 
 which Christ is the manifestation. To resist Christ is at once 
 
 to resist the fulness of Godhead, the Unity of Wisdom, and 
 
 the glory of humanity. Let us never forget the tender apology, 
 
 which once for all, our Lord makes for unbelievers : " They 
 
 know not what they do." " Had they known it they would not 
 
 ha^^e crucified the Lord of Glory." " Because they knezu Him i Cor. ii. 8. 
 
 not, nor the voices of the prophets, they have fulfilled them in 
 
 condemning Him." Not knowing Him, men neither know Acts xiii. 27. 
 
 God, nor themselves. The key is one and the same to the 
 
 Divine Nature and to the inmost sanctuary of human nature. 
 
 Apart from Jesus Christ, man is locked out from the knowledo-e 
 
 of God, from the superior region of his own nature, and from 
 
 the kingdom of heaven. He rambles about in confusion and 
 
 darkness, not knowing whither he is going. To him there 
 
 is no way of peace, no Father's House, no Eternal Life. 
 
 — " to the saints and faithful in Chi'-ist Jesiis^ Saints, Saints. 
 according to New Testament usage, are those who of God's 
 "abundant mercy have been begotten again to a lively hope by 
 the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." So far as i Peter i, 3. 
 their old nature prevails in them they are not saints. The 
 only holy thing in them is their new nature. As a son of 
 Adam, Paul declares that his heritage is a " body of death," 
 
The Blessed Father. 
 
 " The faith- 
 ful." 
 
 Rom. vi. 6. 
 Rom. vii. 17. 
 Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 Grace. 
 
 I Pet. i. 23. 
 I Pet. ii. 2. 
 
 Peace. 
 
 The new man 
 outbreathes a 
 life from God. 
 
 Jno. vii. 38. 
 
 Luke X. 5, 6. 
 
 2 Cor. ii. 15 
 
 The Blessed 
 Father. 
 
 and he, a "wretched man." " The faithful in Christ Jesus" 
 are those who, with Paul, repudiate and disown their fallen 
 nature, who regard their new humanity in Christ Jesus as their 
 only personality. "Our old man is crucified with Him that 
 the body of sin may be destroyed." " It is no more I that 
 do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." " I am crucified with 
 Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
 
 Ver. 2. " Grace be to you." Grace is the " meat indeed," and 
 the "drink indeed" of the new nature. The "new born babes," 
 born again of the Incorruptible Word, Who liveth and abideth 
 for ever, can only be nourished by the genuine milk of His Life. 
 
 " Peace " is the perfect rest of the new nature. Between 
 all things in God, and all things in the new nature, there is a 
 deep and rich harmony. It is the many stringed harp of the 
 soul brought into tuneful, indestructible accord with the whole 
 government and purpose of God, It " passeth understanding." 
 
 The nezii Man is "^ habitation for God." He breathes 
 out his desires, not from his own life alone, but '^ from God 
 the Father and onr Lord Jesns Christ." The salutation 
 of such an one is not in word only. He is not a mere 
 messenger of Christ, but a medium. We must assuredly 
 believe that whenever Paul wrote : " Grace be to you, and 
 peace from God our F"ather, and the Lord Jesus Christ," 
 there was an actual outgoing of grace and peace, from God, 
 throuofh him. No one can live in God without beino- a 
 channel for God. The vessel that receives its supply from an 
 exhaustless source must overflow. Our Lord, Who spake no 
 vain words, declared of His true disciple, that "rivers of living 
 water" should flow out from him. These living streams of 
 grace and peace can never be lost. They may be rejected by 
 tho.se whom you desire to bless ; but in that case, our Lord 
 says, they return to you again. What you give you have. 
 The river of life which flows, and flows evermore, from God, 
 having completed its circuit, returns to God again. " We are 
 unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, 
 and in them that perish." 
 
 Ver 3. ''Blessed be the God and Father of onr Lord fesns 
 Christ" <^c. It should give a childlike rest and confidence to 
 
Source of the Life-River. 7 
 
 our hearts, that all our blessings come, and will for ever come, 
 from a Fatherly source. The God and Father of all our mercies 
 and hopes must be a most blessed Father. Whoever breathes 
 towards men the spirit of "grace and peace," pours out a very full 
 heart towards God. Having blessed men from the Father, 
 Paul immediately turns from them to adore the Father. To 
 trace the wondrous Life- River to its Fountain, must ever be 
 the supreme exercise, and the intensest pleasure both of the 
 understanding and the heart of man. Ever and ever spring- 
 ing from its own hidden abysses in the Divine Nature, it flows 
 through all worlds visible and invisible, clothing the whole 
 universe with beauty, and giving life to countless kingdoms 
 and orders of creatures. " O Well— Lahai Roi !" Thou Living 
 and Life-giving, Thou Seeing and Sight-giving River ! In Thy 
 Life we live, in Thy Light we see light. Many kingdoms, — the 
 vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the natural 
 human kingdom, — drink only of divided properties of this River. 
 Renewed man, man in Christ, drinks into himself the whole 
 unity of its properties. To gather all the streams and all the 
 properties of Life's river together again into humanity, was 
 one of the special objects of His Incarnation. To be in 
 Christ, therefore, is to be set into the meeting of all the waters 
 of God. " Thou shalt make them drink of the River of Thy 
 Pleasures," The pleasures include every variety, and con- Ps. xx.wi. s. 
 stitute the " Fulness of Joy," which in the children of the Great 
 Feather, sings and exults before Him, in His own endlessness. 
 All the children coming with sweetest reverence, and deepest 
 gladness to drink of The Fountain, and to worship, enter into a 
 thrice blessed family-life towards each other, a life strictly in 
 God, and therefore in the eternity of His love and delights. 
 The well of the soul in the very act of springing up to God, Source of the 
 refreshes many a thirsty spirit. All rivers flow to the ocean, 
 but on their way thereto, they bless myriads of creatures, and 
 quicken myriads of roots. How can we come to God, 
 without also coming to the children who are about Him ? 
 We dare not define the limits of the love-spirit which is 
 poured out from human souls to God. " Thou canst not tell 
 whither it goeth." Know this, that in coming to God, thou 
 
8 The True Mirror of God's Glory 
 
 comest to angels and spirits innumerable. God certainly 
 makes no selfish use of the love which flows to Him from His 
 children. God and all His children make one communion. 
 Every child contributes his measure of love to the inter-com- 
 munion of heaven and earth. The elements of nature can 
 neither hold nor absorb any single affection that rises from the 
 soul to God. It is a power and a charm in the great soul- 
 world, it traverses the heavens, it finds God. By how much 
 the fire is purer, by so much it is more diffusive. Love to 
 God is the purest fire of the soul. 
 "The God — " The God and Father of our Lord Jestis Christ!' New 
 
 and Father of Testament writers knew that nature, in its outer form, has 
 
 our Lord .... ^ ■, ■, i . 
 
 Jesus." lost Its mtegnty or first estate, and become subject to corrup- 
 
 tion and vanity ; and that therefore it does not faithfully 
 reflect God. The death of Christ, and His ascension to 
 Heaven in a new and glorious form, opened their eyes to the 
 disharmony between God and all the forms of temporal nature. 
 Between the sphere of the Divine Purity, and the present 
 visible creation, there is a vast border-land, peopled by 
 innumerable legions of fallen spiritual powers. And every 
 Divine operation in the whole sphere of visible nature is 
 conditioned by the surrounding media. When, therefore, the 
 regenerate child of God outpours his blessing to " The God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," his affections leave this 
 mixed and adulterous creation far behind. 
 
 Not in the crude earth, nor any of its forms of vanity, not 
 in transient and putrescible vegetation, not in the atmos- 
 phere so often doleful, and swept by violent storms, not 
 in beasts, nor in men, nor in anything that the sun shines 
 upon, can we discern the truth about God. The one pure 
 The true and fitting reflection of the Glory of God, is the transfigured 
 
 mirror of and asccnded Humanity of Jesus Christ. "Blessed be the 
 sgory. ^^^ ^^^ Father oi our Lord Jesus CJiristy While in the 
 likeness of our flesh, even Jesus did not represent the Glory 
 of God. " We have known Christ after the flesh," but we shall 
 never more behold Him in "this body of our humiliation." 
 Not by His birth of the Virgin Mary, but by His ascension, 
 was He "declared to be the Son of God with power." 
 
Our Blessings in Christ. g 
 
 Indeed Paul's words in this place do not allow us to think of 
 Jesus, as He was, prior to His crucifixion. He writes, not 
 Jesus Christ; but "our Lord Jesus Christ." Blessed be the 
 God and Father of the Eternal Light which was in the 
 beginning with God and which was God, and which realized 
 its supreme bodily manifestation, when the man Christ Jesus 
 was glorified ; " angels, authorities, and powers being made 
 subject to Him." 
 
 The children of God should see that their thoughts of the 
 Son of God are not held subject to the form of His humiliation, 
 but rather that they are elevated to the conception of the 
 Glory which He had with the Father before the world was, 
 and which, as Man, He inherits now, for evermore. " Thou art 
 the king of Glory, O Christ." Blessed be the God and 
 Father of Glory. 
 
 — "W/io hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the hca- Our blessings 
 venlies in Chris t^ — There is a blessing from God in the health "^ Chnst. 
 of our bodies and in the comforts of our homes, in the bounty of 
 the seasons and the variety of our pleasures ; but believers in 
 Christ tenderly and adoringly acknowledge far other blessings 
 than these. Our earthly blessings are but the shadows of 
 blessings. Corruption and vanity attach to them all. They 
 cannot abide with us. They comfort us, much as the gourd 
 did Jonah ; but there is a worm at the root of them all. They 
 win upon our hearts, we are held by them, as in a delicious 
 snare ; but while we dream of delights and delights, the 
 withering season has already commenced, and the hour hastens 
 which will see us stript and broken-hearted. Our Heavenly 
 Father's blessings in Christ Jesus will never wither, nor leave 
 us. Has Christ a "glorious body ?" has He an incorruptible 
 kingdom? will He reign in life and glory for ever? His 
 blessedness and ours are the same. " The glory which Thou 
 hast given Me, I have given them." jno. wii. 22. 
 
 All spiritual blessings are His. All that the Father hath 
 is His, and what is His, is ours. The lot which God has 
 ordained and purposed for us by a covenant well ordered and 
 sure, is that our life shall be in Him, and our portion with Him 
 
lo The Spurious Spiritual. 
 
 for ever. A great welcome and a home await us in the 
 heavenlies ; our eternal fortune is made ; all the angels are our 
 friends. The life of the Son of God in us is the key that will 
 open all the secrets of wisdom and glory. In His life " all 
 things are ours." It constitutes a universal introduction. The 
 whole inheritance of our Father's House is open to us. All 
 its mansions are ours to explore and enjoy. 
 
 As to the nature of our inheritance, it is pure, glorious, and 
 incorruptible ; as to the number of our possessions and 
 pleasures, they are " all ; " as to the duration of our life, it is 
 eternal. 
 
 There are no assignable limits to our Inheritance ; for God 
 has made His Son " Heir of all things," and us "joint-heirs 
 with Him." What secrets, or what celestial abodes, can be 
 closed against us ? The limitations which our own capacities 
 impose upon us are another thing. Michael and Gabriel, and 
 every prince-angel, have their respective kingdoms, and their 
 own peculiar natures and powers ; but the Kingdom of the 
 Incarnation is a universality. It includes "all things." Great 
 and marvellous is God's purpose, towards us in Christ Jesus. 
 Rev. XV. 3. " How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God." 
 rs.cxxxix. 17. gy Q^j. {2\\k\ in Christ we have found much more than sal- 
 
 vation from sin and hell, much more than " the way of peace;" 
 we have" entered upon a series of Divine ascents. New, 
 higher, wider wonders and glories, will open before us, world 
 without end. The revelation of what is meant by " all spiritual 
 blessings in the heavenlies in Christ," will occupy and fill 
 eternity. 
 The spurious But let US be on our guard against a specious, false spiritu- 
 spirituai. ality. We must not make our inheritance to be more spiritual 
 
 than shall correspond with the glorified Body of our Lord. 
 The spirituality which drops the idea of our true humanity is 
 to be resisted and abhorred. Satan, as a most spiritual angel 
 of " light," commends to us mere abstractions, instead of our 
 truly human blessings in Christ Jesus. Christ is the Restorer 
 and glorifier of our whole nature. Satan knows perfectly well 
 that a Christianity, which is simply a fine-spun scheme of 
 
The Antiquity of our Final Hiunanity. 1 1 
 
 thought, will never have any real power in the world. 
 Christ builds men. He brings us to no shining vacuity, to no 
 mere heaven of thought. He finds us a base-human world, 
 and makes us a Divine-human world. The human heart 
 purified, the human mind enlarged, the human character 
 ennobled, the human form perfected, and glowing with the 
 glory of God, and a corresponding eternal kingdom, are the 
 spiritual blessings which our Heavenly Father has made sure 
 to us in Jesus Christ. The only salvation which He proposes 
 to us, is to raise us to the stature of perfect men. Perfected 
 humanity, enjoyed in a perfect human world, with the man 
 Christ Jesus for our king, is our hope. Our inheritance and 
 all its blessings, our occupations and our joys, will be human 
 for ever. Let us be impatient therefore of abstract terms and 
 doctrines. Let us reject and loathe every gospel, save that 
 only which indicates the means and methods of perfecting our 
 nature. 
 
 Chap. i. 4-8. — According as he JiatJi chosen its in 
 Him, before the foundation of the world, that we sho?ild 
 be holy and zvithont blame before Him ; 5 Having, in 
 love, predestinated us unto the adoption of children by 
 Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure 
 of His tuill. To the praise of the glory of His grace, 
 wJierein He hath made us accepted (gracious persons) in 
 the Beloved. 7 /;/ Whom we have redemption through 
 His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
 of His grace ; 8 which He hath made to abound toward 
 us in all wisdom and prudence. 
 
 The word foundation (xa^-a/SoXj^) suggests a descent, or The Antiquity 
 letting down. But since we were chosen in Christ " <5(r/^;r °^ ^"^^"''^^ 
 the foundation of the world," let us joy with reverence over 
 the priority of our original nature, and not confound our- 
 selves with any of the products of time. We are clothed 
 upon with temporal nature, but we are not children of time. 
 We are fallen into time, but we are from eternity. From 
 of old, God loved us with an everlastino- love. There is 
 
1 2 TJie Antiquity of our Final Hnnimtity. 
 
 nothing in the world that represents to us either what we 
 were, or what we shall be. Long before the geological eras 
 began, long before the great chaotic age, and long before 
 that first of all the sad changes, namely, the angel-fall, God 
 beheld His final human race, perfect in His Son. Whatever 
 we have become through the two great falls, in heaven, and in 
 earth, in Christ Jesus we are the holy children of eternity. 
 Our right home is in our Father's house, amid the first-born 
 eternal glories. It is not strange, therefore, that there should 
 be a spirit in us which refuses to rest in anything under the 
 sun, as our final condition. That which was " elect and 
 precious," before the foundation of the world, lingers in us. 
 When we turn from ourselves to our Saviour, we turn to our 
 true nature. Hence our rest. " Come to Me, I will give 
 you rest." Hence our assured hope of ultimate perfection. 
 " Christ in us" is the true and original seed of our glory. 
 
 Before any evil had taken place in heaven or earth, that 
 we might not be permanently natured according to any fallen 
 creation, God chose us in His Eternal Son. He is Integer, 
 or Holy ; and being chosen in Him, we are holy and without 
 blame before God. We have derived much from the will of 
 the fiesh and from the will of man, from the world and 
 from fallen spirits ; but the whole history of our fall is 
 but as a moment compared with our eternity in " the Prince 
 of life," " the Lord of Glory." " For a small moment have 
 I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
 In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment ; 
 but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, 
 isa. liv. 7, 8. saith the Lord, thy Redeemer." Are we not acquiring an 
 altogether new appreciation of our eternal standing, which 
 "for a little moment" we have lost! Are not our dark- 
 ness, and our sadness, quickening and entendering the holy 
 root that is in us ? Through our prayers, griefs, and conflicts, 
 is not our holiness putting on new strength ? Do we not 
 hate with perfect hatred, whatever in us is foreign to Divine 
 Nature ? Shall we not be gainers by our hatred ? Do we 
 not inly sigh to be " crucified with Christ," that the whole 
 
Our Predestination is in yesiis Christ. 13 
 
 body of sin in us may be destroyed, tliat so we may come 
 again to the inheritance of our first perfection ? When 
 our siofhinof and sorrow have for ever ceased, shall we not 
 carry in us a world of tenderness, and wear a beauty, which, 
 apart from our experience of fallen nature, we should never 
 have known ? God's purpose to recover us and to make 
 us holy, and our desire to be holy, are a strong working unity; 
 and we" shall surely be established in holiness before Him 
 for ever. 
 
 But beware that you fall not into the hurtful conceit that Our predestin- 
 God is a respecter of persons. " There is no iniquity with the jesu" Christ. 
 Lord God, nor respect of persons." The testimony of scrip- 
 ture on this head is very full and decisive. Deut. x. 17; 2 
 Sam. xiv. 14 ; 2 Chron. xix. 7 ; Job xxxiv. 19 ; Rom. ii. 11 ; 
 Gal. ii. 6 ; Eph. vi. 9 ; Col. iii. 25 ; i Pet. i. 17. As God 
 has chosen no man's person, He has not chosen you rather 
 than others. God has chosen That which from eternity was 
 in His Son, in whomsoever That may be, or in whomsoever 
 It may come to be. Strictly speaking, God has but One 
 Elect, in Whom His soul delighteth. " He saith not, and 
 to seeds as of many ; but as of One, and to thy Seed, lukick is 
 Christy This is the One and only Seed " to Whom the Gai. m. 16. 
 promise was made." " All the promises of God in Him are "^•"^•'9- 
 yea, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of God." The whole 2Cor. i. 20. 
 scope of God's election is in His Son. Boasting is excluded. 
 No man can glory in himself; yet every man who knoweth 
 the Lord may glory in Him, and in his election in Him. So 
 far as your life is " hid with Christ in God," you are in the 
 election of God. If you are not in the Son of God, you are 
 in reprobation. Whoever abides in the nature and spirit of his 
 own personality is reprobate. To reject Christ is to reject 
 God's predestination. If we are made partakers of Christ, we 
 are comprehended in eternal election. There is nothing 
 arbitrary in it. The election of God is without variableness or 
 the shadow of a turning, the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever. 
 Therefore to preach Christ to every creature, is to declare 
 to every creature, that through Christ Jesus he may make his 
 
14 TJie Glory and Praise of GocVs Grace. 
 
 election sure. To whomsoever Christ is offered, as " the gift 
 of God," to him the predestination, that was before all worlds, 
 is offered. If God from eternity had elected to eternal life 
 cei^tain persons rather than other persons, it would be the 
 coldest and most cruel mockery, after that, to " preach the 
 gospel to every creature." It would be horrible to suppose 
 that Christ, Who tasted death for every man, would have 
 charged His apostles, after He was risen from the dead, to 
 carry His gospel into all nations, and bring it home to every 
 creature's door and heart, if He had not known that the 
 election of God was open to every man. 
 Strive to But the creature must strive to enter in, saith the Lord, 
 
 enter into fQj- u ^\^q q-^'^q jg Strait." In itself the orate is boundless and 
 
 God selection. ,..,* . , , .^- ,, .. 
 
 divmely attractive ; but to the corruption oi man s heart it is 
 strait and forbidding. Strive to enter into God's election. 
 Jacob, with tears, wrestled at the gate and he entered in. The 
 cry, " Repent ye," is the goodness of God counselling men, to 
 turn from that which has for ever been rejected, to that which 
 has for ever been elect. And the joy of the angels over every 
 sinner that repenteth, is their delight at seeing another im- 
 mortal pass out of reprobation into eternal election. " Abide 
 in me and I in you," said the Lord, otherwise you too will fall 
 out of election into reprobation. For " if a man abide not in 
 jno. XV. 6. Me, he is cast forth as a branch." " Stand fast in the Lord, 
 my dearly beloved." Therein, and therein only, is your elec- 
 tion. 
 The glory and Ver. 6. " To tkc praisc of tJic glory of God's grace,'' ''He hath 
 praise of made lis accepted m the Beloved." And herein is God's praise, 
 Go sgiace. ^j^^^ ^^ j^^^ ^^^^ choscu any thing for man, which is change- 
 able. The immutability of grace is its glory. There is one 
 satisfaction which is even higher than that of our salvation, 
 namely, that our salvation illustrates the glory, and exalts the 
 praise of God's goodness. Who could take joy in his salva- 
 tion, if it dishonoured God ? But our salvation magnifies that 
 which was eternally precious to God. The Spirit of His 
 Son shed abroad in our hearts constitutes our acceptance. 
 We are presented before God in the faultlessness of His 
 
The Blood of Christ. 15 
 
 Beloved. " The grace of God which brings salvation" comes 
 forth from the bosom of His glory, and qualifies us to live with 
 Him in glory. Both in its origin and in its end, grace is glory. 
 Before the foundation of the world, there was nothing but 
 glory. When leaving the world, our Lord asked that His 
 Humanity might be glorified with the Glory which He had 
 before the world was. That is the glory, which now, as a 
 hidden spirit of grace, is given to us. We were chosen in 
 glory, unto glory. The Son of God is Glory. His Glory is 
 the Father's eternal praise. W^e are going to reflect Jesus, the 
 Beloved of the Lord, and to rejoice for ever before the face 
 of our Father, " to the praise of the glory of His grace." 
 
 " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," which is in us, is at 
 the same time in Him. It is never cut off from its source. 
 Even as the daylight, which is in our eyes, is inseparable from 
 the sun. The grace of God in the redeemed, and the Foun- 
 tain of that grace are indissolubly one. The grace of God, 
 which is in us, therefore, gives us a positive oneness with God. 
 If we reject the grace which is brought nigh to us in Christ 
 Jesus our Lord, we cut ourselves off at once from the election 
 of God, and from our own glory. No grace, no glory. The 
 more grace now, the more glory hereafter. Heaven prepares 
 for Heaven. Christ in us, is a hidden heaven of joy and 
 praise, preparing us for the eternal heaven of glory. 
 
 ''In wJiom we have redeiiiption through His blood.'' All The blood of 
 thmgs are double, like soul and body ; and the blood of Christ , "^ ' 
 has a double signification. He verily took part of the same 
 flesh and blood with us ; but in our blood, He could not be ' 
 presented before the face of His Father. His experience in 
 Adam's blood was an exceeding bitter cup. It clothed Him 
 with our curse. He must shed that blood, otherwise the curse 
 that lies upon the race cannot be put away. In that blood He 
 never can be received up into heaven. It is a bar between Him 
 and His own glory. And yet, now that He is in heaven, we are 
 charged to drink His blood, for the remission of our sins and 
 the purification of our souls. We must, therefore, understand 
 the blood of Christ in two very distinct senses ; as distinct as 
 
i6 
 
 Forgiveness a Work of God. 
 
 — not physical. 
 
 Forgiveness a 
 •work of God. 
 
 the human life which expired on Calvary, and the human life 
 which our Lord is now living in heaven. One blood He put 
 away; the other is the blood of His own Divine and human 
 life, which being drunk into our souls, cleanses us from all sin. 
 " Drink ye all of It." I will take the cup of salvation and call 
 upon the name of the Lord. 
 
 The blood of communion between Christ and the members 
 of His body, not being a physical thing, is never apprehended 
 by the natural mind. The carnal mind understands all things 
 carnally, yea, even "the blood of Christ." But His blood 
 is most spiritual. "The Lord is that Spirit." His blood is 
 His life. Drink It into your souls, "for the remission of your 
 sins." Nothing less than the Divine Spirit-blood of the Son 
 of God can purify a spirit. Whosoever drinketh the life of 
 the Lord Jesus, is most surely undergoing a process of Divine 
 cleansing. The prayer for salvation which the Lord puts into 
 our mouth is, simply, " Deliver us from evil." For nothing but 
 evil can separate any spirit from the favour of God and heaven. 
 The remission of sin is therefore redemption. The Lord's 
 blood is the remedy for all evil. It is Innocence itself. Purity 
 itself: whoever drinks thereof, drinks death and life, death 
 unto sin, and life unto God. 
 
 The forgiveness of God is not in word, but in power. We 
 foro-ive our fellow creature from without; but God's forgiveness 
 is a work within the soul. The energy and purity of His 
 Son's life affect the very springs of thought and feeling, 
 lift the burden from the conscience, heal every sore, and 
 pacify every fear of the spirit. The spirit of sin in our 
 blood is a very near bewitching power, but the blood of 
 Christ is a yet nearer, mightier power. The blood of Christ 
 has a universal sovereignty. It is the power of God 
 to salvation. It speaks peace throughout the soul ; and it 
 
 is done. 
 
 Such a deliverance from the virus of sin is indeed a most 
 real "redemption." It is Gods forgiveness: it is deeper than 
 we can search it out. It accords with "the riches of His 
 grace." It is more than a royal gift ; it is a gift of royalty. 
 
The *' IVisdom and PriLdence'^ of His Grace. 17 
 
 To be cleansed by His Son's blood, is to be new creatures in 
 
 His blood. St. John speaks of our washing, and our royalty, 
 
 in a sinele sentence. " Unto Him that loved us, and washed 
 
 us from our sins in His own blood, and hath viade us kings',' Rev. i. 5, 6. 
 
 &c. By one act God puts off from the soul the filthy garments 
 
 of sin, and puts on the beauty of His Son. To put away 
 
 winter from the face of the earth, and to put on summer is 
 
 one operation. 
 
 The fountain of grace which it hath pleased the Father Theever-flow- 
 to open for us in the life of His orlorified Son, is essentially i"gWoodof 
 
 11 n • 1 T redemption. 
 
 related to us, and always nowmg towards us. In our nature 
 He died for our sins, and in our nature He ever liveth to 
 mediate forgiving and renewing grace unto the ends of the earth. 
 " He is the Propitiation" not for the sins of the Church only, 
 "but also for the sins of the whole world." The flow of His i johnU. 2. 
 Human sympathy reacheth to every creature. The Eternal 
 Father has in the man Christ Jesus, a propitious medium, 
 corresponding with the inmost cravings of His Love. No one /. 
 is wholly cut off from the outflow of the Mediator's heart. ' 
 Noiselessly, ceaselessly, and every where throughout the 
 world, the superabounding grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is 
 operating. " The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof ; 
 the world and they that dwell therein." He hath "power 
 over all flesh." But His Power breathes on the soul with the 
 gentleness of summer warmth ; for He will do no violence to 
 the freedom of any creature. 
 
 The ways and motions of His Power are governed by His The "wisdom 
 '' wisdom 2X\A prudence^ It is well for the human race that- JelJcr^of His 
 the Grace of God, in its final action, is not subject to the con- » grace, 
 ceptions or methods of any man's wisdom, nor to the limits of 
 human affection, nor even to the faith and love of the whole 
 Church. In some respects human zeal exceeds God's wise 
 and prudent method of grace ; but in all respects it comes 
 infinitely short of His purpose. Man understands not the 
 wisdom of God's long delay, nor the prudence of His reserve. 
 "He hath made the riches of His grace to abound towards 
 us;" but all His "wisdom and prudence" are engaged in its 
 
 B 
 
1 8 The Original Purpose of God. 
 
 administration. Neither men nor angels can survey the range 
 
 of His grace, nor take account of the manifoldness of its 
 
 operation. 
 
 By "all prudence'" {(p^ovriffig) understand every method of 
 
 the Divine thought. The prudentiality of the great Father's 
 plan of procedure exceeds anything that we can comprehend. 
 " As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways 
 higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts, 
 isa. iv. 8, 9- saith the Lord." The sphere of the heavens is not a little 
 greater, but immensely greater than that of the earth ; but 
 how much more do the methods of Divine grace transcend all 
 human theories. Things which are impossible to men, are 
 quite possible to God. 
 
 Chap. i. 9, 10. — Having made knoivn unto ns the 
 mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, 
 which He purposed in Himself: 10 TJiat in the dis- 
 pensation of the ftdness of times He might gather together 
 in One, all things in Christ, both the things which are in 
 heaven, and the things zvhich are on earth: even in Him. 
 
 The original The grace which God hath made to abound towards us, 
 
 purpose of through His Son, is no deviation from His original plan. All 
 along, before the days of Chaos, before the angels fell, and 
 through all the celestial and terrestrial ages, God carried in 
 His bosom a certain purpose, called "the mystery of His will." 
 He always meant that His creatures should undergo a long, 
 patient, and manifold experience before He disclosed His 
 central plan. The Incarnation of His Son, and His Media- 
 torial relationships are strictly the carrying out of the design, 
 which, before the beginning of His works. He had "purposed 
 in Himself." That His creatures should be both related to 
 Him, and mutually related, in the closest bonds, and that those 
 bonds should be inviolable, were always His will. He knew 
 that His children, each of whom would have an individual will, 
 could only be saved from ceaselessly falling into disorder, by 
 
Hell a Serious Loss to Heaven. 
 
 19 
 
 being brought into direct conjunction with Himself. But this 
 strong and perfect unity between God and " all things," though 
 His first ideal purpose, can only be realized as the last 
 estate of the creation. 
 
 From time immemorial the universe, from its centre to its The strife and 
 
 [. ,1 , f. ,. . . ^ . . division of 
 
 utmost circumference, has been a house 01 division, bpirits are the universe, 
 opposed to spirits, wills to wills, thoughts to thoughts, elements 
 to elements. The discrepancy between heaven and earth is an 
 immense trial. Every one that comes into the world is at times 
 oppressed and confounded by the dismal break between the two 
 human homes. Add to this, the awful division between heaven 
 and hell, and you must see that the Cross of God is both a 
 greater and more ancient cross than any of us can comprehend. 
 Opposed to God and His holy heavens, are very powerful 
 apostate heavens. So far as we know, the battle is universal. 
 The hostility between thrones and thrones, powers and powers, 
 is bitter in the extreme. Could they do it, the rebellious 
 heavens would change the whole of the primitive heavens, and 
 the Son of God Himself, into their own image and likeness. 
 God has been labouring hitherto to subdue evil unto good ; 
 but the evil powers have also been labouring to transmute 
 good into evil. For to them good is evil, and evil good. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that hell is not only a lost heaven, Heii, a serious 
 but a very great loss to heaven. Europe would not be a ^-^^J^^^ 
 liitle loss to the world. But there is no reason to suppose 
 that the powers of hell bear a smaller proportion to those of 
 heaven than Europe does to the world. Hell is an apostacy 
 of stupendous magnitude. Its fierce passions and disorders 
 not only affect our souls, but permeate the whole creation. 
 Nature, throughout all her kingdoms, bears testimony to a 
 universal strife, and inspired Seers bear witness to " war in hea- 
 ven." The prince-angel who was the direct messenger of God 
 to Daniel, said that he should have been with him three weeks 
 sooner, had he not been powerfully resisted. " From the first 
 day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to chasten 
 thyself before God, thy words were heard, and I am come for 
 thy words ; but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood 
 
20 TJie Material Universe. 
 
 me one and twenty days ; but lo, Michael, one of the chief 
 
 princes, came to help me And now will I return to 
 
 Han.x. 12, 13, hght with the prince of Persia." Our Lord testifies likewise 
 ^''- that the powers, signified by Satan and the devil, are cease- 
 
 lessly working in opposition to Him. He is seeking the 
 lost that He may save them ; and the powers of hell are 
 seeking to deceive and destroy them. " Satan that deceiveth 
 the whole world," is the determined and relentless enemy of 
 " the Saviour of the world." 
 
 Since her loss, Heaven has never been the Heaven that she 
 was before. Nor can she rest in the present condition of things. 
 Neither God nor Heaven will rest till the great mischief is 
 repaired. It will be more than repaired. Ultimately, Heaven 
 will be richer in might, and in wisdom, and in glory, than she 
 was in the first days of her unity. 
 The material But this Strange thing, called the material universe, which 
 universe? hides the face of God's glory, and all truth, from us, what is 
 it ? Is it not an organized shadow of all that it conceals, 
 namely, the strife between fallen and unfallen spiritual powers ? 
 Is it not strictly hieroglyphical of the great battle between 
 heaven and hell ? It is neither heaven nor hell ; neither 
 wholly good, nor wholly evil ; neither in accord, nor hope- 
 lessly at variance with God. It is very anomalous. It is an 
 enigma to all who think. In a certain qualified sense, it is a 
 mirror of God ; and yet no one can deny that it is one vast 
 organized battle-field of contending forces. In many respects 
 it represents heaven ; but in other, and manifold respects it 
 just as faithfully represents hell. We call it Nature, natura, 
 that which is becoming, or about to be. It is something which 
 ■ was not ; and yet is ; and yet is not as it would be, nor as it 
 shall be. We call her mother too, for she is in sore travail ; and 
 will expire some day in bringing forth the new heavens and 
 the new earth, wherein God's truth and righteousness shall be 
 seen again. Dying she will not die. Through her final 
 redemptive new birth, she will put ofi" all her vanity and put 
 on the glory of God, her strife will cease, and her peace be 
 eternal. 
 
The Biirde7i of Prophecy. 21 
 
 She labours in corruption and sorrow because she has lost 
 certain essential qualities. It is not enough that she repre- 
 sents some of the principles of God's Nature, she must embody 
 and represent all, and all in unity, in order to realize the 
 glorious and permanent form of her being. The restlessness 
 and vanity which are inseparable from her present constitution, 
 are but her expressive way of confessing : '* I am wanting : I 
 am waiting for my re-birth : I was not always subject to 
 vanity, nor am I now subject thereto willingly : I groan in 
 hope : I shall be delivered from my strife and sorrow : I shall 
 be whole and perfect : my bondage will issue in glorious 
 liberty : my divisions will be broken up and solved into an 
 ever-enduring unity." 
 
 It is most essential to heaven, that the material universe The unity 
 should be brought into perfect harmony with it ; and it is just ^ '^ '° ^' 
 as essential to the peace and glory of the material universe 
 that it should become harmonious with heaven. Neither can 
 be complete without the other. ''As it is in heaven, so on 
 earth." Is not this sweet equilibrium between the material 
 and the spiritual, and between both and God, precisely the 
 mystery of His will " which from everlasting He purposed in 
 Himself?" 
 
 " God hath spoken," saith St Peter, " by the mouth of all The burden 
 His holy prophets since the world began," of the issue to Actsm. 2T 
 which He will bring temporal nature. To the mind and heart 
 of God "the restitution of all things" is not less, but even more 
 necessary than was their first creation. Through the strife 
 and disorder of nature, including the contrarieties of our own 
 flesh and spirit, the Name of God is involved in clouds and 
 darkness. As Jesus, in our flesh, was covered with humili- 
 ations and reproaches, so is God by the conflicts and sorrows 
 of the creation. Christ endured the contradictions of sinners 
 against Himself, and God from age to age endures the contra- 
 dictions of nature against Himself. For His own glory, it is 
 absolutely necessary that God should deliver His creation 
 from its corruption, its vanity, its cruel strifes ; and establish 
 it in an order worthy of His wisdom, and in a steadfast 
 
22 Ignorance of the Natural Mind. 
 
 blessedness worthy of His love. We see not yet all things 
 established in such order and joy. But we see Jesus as the 
 Head of the restored creation, " crowned with glory and 
 honour." He brought His Divine Nature under the humble 
 and painful conditions of temporal nature, that He might raise 
 her to her glorious condition, and establish her therein. In 
 Himself, the purpose of God is fulfilled, and the end foreshown. 
 He sits a King upon His throne, subduing all things to Him- 
 self; and when He has put down all adverse rule, authority, 
 and power, and made all things new, then will the clouds and 
 darkness, which have so long obscured the face of God, be 
 rolled away, and the plan "which He purposed in Himself," 
 before the foundation of the world, be fulfilled. 
 Ignorance of Studeuts of nature, in general, seem to take no account of 
 
 mind!^"'^^^ the serious reproaches under which she works and travails. 
 They appear to find no difficulty in supposing that the visible 
 creation accords with the nature and will of God, Well has 
 Christ said — " O righteous Father, the world hath not known 
 Thee." Men assiime that the present warring, sorrowing 
 creation is according to God, because they neither know God, 
 " nor the mystery of His will." Would you not pity British 
 statesmen who should confound a convict settlement, or a 
 reformatory, with her Majesty's household } And if they 
 perpetually assumed that the " all things " of such establish- 
 ments, reflected her Majesty's heart and character, would you 
 not say that it argued either incapacity of judgment, or per- 
 verseness of heart '^ But such an assumption would be a very 
 trifling error, compared with that of regarding the condition 
 and working of temporal nature as harmonious with the Nature 
 and character of God. The fierce antagonisms of nature 
 represent something very foreign from the unity of God. 
 Nature is one great cry for Christ's reconciliation. 
 
 To believers in Revelation, the rudeness and cruelty of 
 many of nature's laws and operations, occasion no difficulty. 
 God has made known to them the secret of her humiliation, 
 and the beauty of His final purpose. 
 
 In the meantime the Cross of Universal Nature lies on 
 
Peace is Made. 23 
 
 the Son of God. However fallen it may be, how can He The great 
 
 divest Himself of that which He has once made? If "all I'^^f^ll 
 
 things were created by Him, and for Him, and by Him all 
 
 things consist," He must be the centre of all the discord, coi. i. 16, 17. 
 
 Lines from the whole circumference must meet in Him. 
 
 " The Lord hath made the iniquity of us all to meet in Him," isa. liu. 6. 
 
 is no exceptional truth. It is the revelation of an inevitable 
 
 law. All evil meets in Him. 
 
 It was fitting therefore, that He should be 7nanifcstcd, as 
 the Centre of all Conflict, the Bearer of all Sin. " It became 
 Him" to clothe Himself with a body taken from struggling 
 nature, that He might reveal Himself both as the Sufferer and 
 the Healer. By bearing, He vanquished the curse. By direct 
 encounters with them. He overcame all the evil powers. 
 
 Even for Him, the conflict was fearful. Indeed, no con- 
 ceptions of ours can ever do justice to the sufferings of our 
 God, Messiah. For as no creature can ever be the centre of 
 all evil, no one can possibly have any idea of the magnitude 
 and bitterness of Christ's woe. As man, it was necessary that He 
 should experience the whole force of evil, and prevail. For 
 man being the head of creation, nothing can be redeemed, 
 until he is redeemed. But his redemption is virtually nature's 
 redemption. The reconciliation which our Lord has effected peaceismade, 
 has bearings as wide as creation. The whole creation will be and ^ni grow 
 restored, and inherit with man, the peace and glory of Christ. EmpuT'^'' 
 Evil struggles and will yet struggle, but it is doomed. Christ's 
 death will be fulfilled in the death of evil throughout all nature. 
 His ascension will be fulfilled in the universal diffusion of His 
 Life, Love, and Glory. But He will not make haste. By His 
 long patience. He gives the utmost possibility to the endea- 
 vours of evil. In the end, evil powers will work their own 
 confusion and downfal. The Son of God is sure of final 
 victory. He foresees it. The whole field will come about to 
 Him. He wfll wait for it. In His ascension, all the elements 
 and powers of nature are already glorified. In Him, they have 
 all come back to God, with increase. They are no longer 
 divided and striving. They underwent their grand decisive 
 
24 Peace is Made. 
 
 and bloody sweat in Him. The worst is past. "The resti- 
 tution of all things" is certain. All things are at Peace in 
 Christ, and the Peace is wonderful. 
 
 " It is finished," proclaimed the end of the fallen order of 
 nature. "He is risen," announced the beginning of the new 
 order. Christ glorified is God's first-fruits of the whole harvest 
 of His recovered creation. All things will be made after the 
 pattern of Christ's unity. The reconciliation of all things iji 
 Him is very Divine. And when the like reconciliation is 
 fulfilled, both in man and nature, the work of the Mediator 
 will be done, and " the mystery of God finished." 
 
 If we reckon the duration of the Universe by ages, it is 
 doubtless incalculably old ; but if we contemplate it in the 
 light of God's Eternity, it is comparatively young. Like a 
 child who has not yet the full use of his powers, it has had 
 many a slip and fall ; but it is slowly, surely, advancing towards its 
 perfect age, and will be stedfast in its perfectness. We are already 
 at the beginning of God's decreed end. He has opened 
 that with which His heart travailed, "before the worlds began." 
 
 The mystery of God's will is no longer a ' hidden 
 mystery.' There are depths in it, which no thought can 
 fathom, and heights, which no imagination can reach, but it is 
 an open mystery. Angels and men are looking into it, and 
 will look, with an ever-growing intensity of interest. For they 
 see therein, as in a glass, the universe as it is to be, — a mirror 
 of the Great Father's unity and love. 
 
 Observe once for all, that whoever speaks merely 
 of the redemption of mankind, mutilates the redemption of 
 God, and is unfaithful to the New Testament. The mystery 
 of God's will and purpose, which Paul commends to us, is the 
 knitting into unity, the gathering together in one, of ''all things 
 in Christ, both the things which are in heaven, and the things 
 which are on earth ; even in Him." The Headship of Christ 
 is universal. Heaven and Earth, and "all things" therein, are 
 to be brought under One Head ; and thus into the Fellowship 
 of a Divinely-balanced harmony. The whole course of 
 sin and sorrow is His chastisement, which He will bear until 
 it melts into His own Purity and Peace. 
 
yews the First Believers i^t Christ. 25 
 
 Our faith in Christ, ought to correspond with the purpose 
 of God, by Christ. It should be an enhghtened, and a glowing 
 appreciation of God's Plan of perfecting the universe. Faith 
 in Christ is not more essential to human hope, than to right 
 reason. There are some striking evidences in our own time 
 of the penalty which men already suffer for their unbelief. 
 Men who think themselves very superior to the notions of the 
 vulgar, prefer to classify man with the ape, rather than with 
 the Son of God. Faith in Christ is strictly faith in the won- 
 drous fulness, grandeur, and possibility of Humanity. There 
 is but One in the universe in Whom are comprised " all things 
 in heaven, and all things in earth ; " and that One, is the Man, 
 Christ Jesus, the Hope and Glory of men. Man is " Lord, to 
 the glory of God the Father," for He is Universal Reconciler, 
 *' King, of kings, and Lord of lords." 
 
 Chap. i. i 1-14. — In ivhom also we [Jews] have obtained 
 aji inJieritance, (or, were portioned out our lot), being 
 predestinated according to the purpose of Hint Who 
 worketh all tilings according to the counsel of His own 
 will: 1 2 That ive sJionld be to the praise of His glory, 
 who first trusted [hoped] in Christ. 1 3 In Whom ye 
 [Gentiles] also \lioped'\ after that ye heard the Word of 
 Truth, the Gospel of yonr salvation; in Whom also after 
 that ye believed, ye ivere sealed zvith that Holy Spirit of 
 promise, 14 Which [Spirit] is the earnest of onr inheri- 
 tance until the redemption of the pjirchased possession, [the 
 possession which has been acquired for us] imto the 
 praise of His glory. 
 
 All Jews did not reject the Messiah. We Jews, says Paul, jews, the first 
 
 believe 
 Christ. 
 
 were the first to hope in Christ, and to obtain our part in the believers in 
 new inheritance. We were the first to exchange " the old 
 man, ' for " the new man," the old creation, for the new hope. 
 And this was strictly according to the purpose of God. 
 " Having drawn out all things from the very first, according to 
 the perfect counsel of His own will, He had no need of after 
 plans." In no least particular, will He ever have to make a 
 shadow of deviation from His eternal counsel. His creatures 
 
26 
 
 Christ is the Christ of all Nations. 
 
 therefore can only find their perfect rest on one condition : they 
 must change, and change, and change again, until they come 
 into their lot, according to His first plan. For the perfection 
 of the whole depends upon the perfection of all the parts, 
 and the perfect relationship of all the parts. It was neces- 
 sary that the Gospel should first be preached to the Jews, 
 for their deliverance from the thoughts and prejudices of 
 ages : that they might be " a kind of first-fruits," of all 
 generations, "to the praise of God's glory." How can the 
 people of any nation, or age, be "to the praise of His glory," 
 unless they suffer themselves to be delivered from their old 
 limits of thought ? God is as clearly calling Christians, as, in 
 Follow me," a former age, He called Jews, out of their old limits into 
 broader places. If Christians cannot leave their crude concep- 
 tions, and go on with God, He will go on without them. For 
 men have not yet come to the recognition of the whole pur- 
 pose of God in Christ Jesus. Whoever, therefore, abides by 
 his own, or his forefathers' stereotyped conceptions, may be a 
 worshipper of Christ's tomb, but he has parted company with 
 the Living Christ. " Follow Me, and let the dead bury their 
 dead." Of all men, the Jews were proudest of their nation, their 
 nationality, and history ; it was therefore only by the noblest 
 self-conquest, that they were made to testify, that henceforth 
 "there is neither Jew nor Gentile," but that all men are one 
 in Christ Jesus. In making Jews the first preachers of 
 Christ, it was demonstrated that Christ is a greater Power 
 than nationality, and a greater attraction than all the divinest 
 things in the past. 
 
 The Christ of God is neither buried, nor contained, in any 
 past. The angels are crying aloud to Christendom : " Why 
 seek ye the living among the dead ? " Christ is in the mouth 
 and heart of all nations. In Him, all nations are one new 
 nature. He is coming to the nations, not from the tombs of 
 the long past, but from Heaven. The breath which in all 
 nations is kindling a desire to be loosed from the oppressive 
 bonds of ages, that they may go free, in the warmer, broader, 
 Truth of God's grace, is Christ's presence with the nations. 
 We quote Peter's words, not to express what was once true. 
 
 Christ is the 
 Christ of all 
 nations. 
 
A Strange Thing. ^ 27 
 
 for they are equally applicable to our own age : Jesus " being 
 by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the 
 Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath shed forth this, 
 which ye now see and hear." Jesus Christ is stealing upon the Acts h. 33. 
 nations to lead them by new expanses of thought, and richer 
 liberties, towards the greatness of their hope. 
 
 When Jesus was born, certain mariners, sailing in the ^gean "Great Pan is 
 Sea, are said to have heard a voice echoing among the rude 
 islands : " Great Pan is dead." And it is undeniable, that 
 nature-gods many, and lords many, after a short struggle, did 
 give up the contest and leave whole regions to Christ. Multi- 
 tudes of the Heathen were translated from nature, and her 
 light, into the new kingdom of the Son of God, and its mar- 
 vellous light. Great was their joy, to find themselves delivered 
 from the desfradations of naturalism, with all its " dimness of 
 anguish," and restored to the original kingdom of their divme 
 humanity. They had been perplexed and confounded by 
 fables ; but now the Truth was come. Gross darkness had 
 covered them ; but the True Light was come at last, the glory 
 of the Lord was risen upon them. Is it not strange that so a strange 
 late in the day of Grace, many among us are emulous of *'""§• 
 returning to what the Heathen abandoned long, long ago ? 
 Having been touched by the charm of Christ's Humanity, and 
 stolen certain beams of His Light, they have returned to the 
 gourd-temple of their ' Great God Pan.' They have no objec- 
 tion to a quasi-Christian lamp in their temple ; but their Christ 
 must be under nature, and not greater than nature. For the 
 supernatural, they have no patience. They cannot conceive 
 that nature, as they recognise her, is in an anti-natural condition ; 
 and that the supernatural condition of Christ, is True Nature 
 restored. We should perhaps charge their infidelity on the 
 Church. O believers, had you walked in the heavenly 
 beauty of the Son of God ; had you breathed His Spirit ; had 
 your characters borne witness to the transforming power of 
 His Life; instead of presenting your own thought-images, 
 and forms of death, to the people, had you lifted up The 
 Living Christ, many who are now against you, would have 
 
28 
 
 " The Gospel of our Salvation!' 
 
 The Living 
 Truth of 
 to-dny is the 
 Christ. 
 
 Jno. xiv. 6. 
 Rev. i. 1 8. 
 Rev. iii. 21. 
 Jno. xvi. 15. 
 Matt, xxviii. 
 28. 
 
 " The Gospel 
 of our Salva- 
 tion" is the 
 Word of 
 Truth. 
 
 been on your side. You have sullied the glory of God's 
 Truth. You have enveloped her fair face in the chilly mists 
 of your unloving souls ; and repelled many an ardent lover, 
 by your misrepresentations. Not being able to accept your 
 cold and arbitrary dogmas for God's Truth, they have forsaken 
 The Church, to see what they can find under nature's sky. 
 You have perverted your way ; you have substituted definitions, 
 and frozen forms, for life. And your sons have too much health, 
 and honesty, to say that they believe your garnished sepulchres 
 represent God's Christ, and the whole circle of living good. 
 
 Know you not that the Living Truth of to-day, is the 
 Christ? Say not that "The Truth" is one of His Names. 
 Christ is one of His Names; but "The Truth" is what He 
 zvas, and wl\at He is, and what He will be for ever. " I am 
 The Truth." " I am He that liveth." " I overcame, and am 
 set down with My Father, in His throne." "All things that 
 the Father hath are Mine." " All power is given unto Me in 
 heaven and in earth." The Eternal Father could set upon 
 His throne no other King than " The Truth." 
 
 According to Paul, "the Gospel of our salvation," and "the 
 Word of Truth," are one and the same thing. God could 
 never provide, or send, any other Gospel into the world, than 
 The Word of Truth. Because it is " The Word of Truth," 
 there is "everlasting strength" in it, and it may be wholly 
 trusted. We are required to believe it, because it is the 
 revelation of God's unchangeable Truth. Being truth, the 
 more implicitly we trust it, the more it will strengthen and 
 support us. It is " the Power of God," because it is the Word 
 of His Truth. It is both older and truer than any creation 
 which mortal eyes have seen, or can see. It is right that we 
 should be commanded to believe in the Gospel of our salvation, 
 rather than in the things which are seen. For " the things 
 which are seen are temporal ;" but the sweet harmony of Truth, 
 revealed to us in Jesus Christ, is Divine, and Eternal. The 
 things which are seen are not absolutely true to God, and 
 therefore, " as a vesture. Thou shalt fold them up, and they 
 shall be changed ; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall 
 
Believers are Sealed. 29 
 
 not fail." As children of temporal nature, our countenance is Heb. i. 12. 
 soon changed, and we pass away ; but being born again of the 
 Truth of God, we have Everlasting Life. " The Word of the 
 Lord endureth for ever ; and this is The Word which by the 
 Gospel is preached unto you." i Pet. i. 25. 
 
 Nothing could justify us, in accepting a salvation which was 
 not according to Truth. Salvation would be no salvation, if it 
 were not by The Word of Truth. We should need to be 
 saved from Christ, if He were not " The Truth." 
 
 Hence the Spirit of God, not only witnesses that Christ Believers are 
 Jesus is the revelation of Eternal Truth, but that true believers, '^^^^''• 
 in virtue of their being at one with Him, are the legitimate 
 sons, and heirs of God. " Of His own will begat He us, 
 with The Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first 
 fruits of His creatures." They are sealed with the Holy jas. i. 18. 
 Spirit, because they are in the Truth. For the Holy Spirit 
 is " The Spirit of Truth," and will witness to nothino- but The 
 Truth. 
 
 ''After that ye believed, ye wei-e sealed^ Call it sealing, 
 or what you will, it is a fact that believers in Christ, of every 
 age, have enjoyed an inward, filial assurance, of which we 
 certainly hear nothing from the mere students of nature. It 
 is well known, moreover, that the more sharply the believer's 
 confidence has been tried, the more steadfast and triumphant 
 it has become. How is it to be accounted for, that nature 
 does not seal her disciples in the same way ? They do 
 not possess the restful certitude, and the joyous hope, of 
 believers. Why do they not .? Let others answer this ques- 
 tion as they may, we answer: The Holy Spirit will not 
 testify that nature has " The Word of Truth," namely, " The 
 Gospel of our Salvation ; nor will He assure the disciples of 
 nature that they are the children and heirs of God." " The Rev. xix. 10. 
 testimony ^ of Jesiis is the Spirit of prophecy." " Wlien He, 
 the Spirit of Truth is come." . . . '' He shall glorify Me.'' Jno.xvi.13,14. 
 " Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, — every spirit that 
 confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God : 
 and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come 
 
30 " TJie Earnest of our Inker ita7tce" 
 
 in the flesh is not of God." .... Hereby know we the Spirit 
 ijno. iv. 2,6. q|- Truth and the spirit of error." '' We are in Him that is 
 True, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God 
 ijno. V. 20. ^^^ Eternal life." Believers, then, are "sealed with the 
 Holy Spirit," for no other reason, than that they are in 
 The Trnth. Temporal nature is a division, — only a part of 
 that which is perfect. Christ is unity. 
 
 The men who believe in the results of scientific observation, 
 rather than in " the Gospel of our Salvation," will discover 
 some, day that they, and " The Truth," are on opposite sides. 
 They are the disciples of nature's facts, but at variance 
 with Truth, in its Eternal Form. Moreover, as the only 
 enduring, and all-controlling Power, must be God's Truth, 
 they will sooner, or later, find it to be a very unhappy thing, 
 to stand opposed to the supreme governing Power of the 
 universe and eternity. 
 " The earnest " The Spirit of Truth " dwelling in the hearts of those 
 
 toiKe'"^''^^"' ^^'^° believe The Truth, is " the earnest " of their full inherit- 
 ance. An earnest is a payment in part, as a pledge of the whole 
 hereafter. The Spirit of God is a noble earnest, but not our 
 full possession. What manner of inheritance must that needs 
 be, of which The Holy Spirit is but the first deposit ? God 
 has not described it. For language has fallen as much as 
 men, and is unfitted to be the vehicle of heavenly things. 
 From one partial and hasty vision of our inheritance, Paul 
 says : (being in danger of self-exaltation from the abundance 
 of revelations " which were given to him,) that a life-long 
 affliction was laid upon him. All that he is able, or permitted, 
 to say of these revelations, is : "I knew a man in Christ 
 above fourteen years ago, who was caught up into Paradise, 
 and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man 
 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. to utter." "For since the beginning of the world men have 
 not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye 
 seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him 
 isa. ixiv. 4. that waiteth for Him." 
 
 "The pur- g ^^ ^^^ inheritance, the earnest of which we have in our 
 
 possession. hearts, is a '' purchased \2.Q.o^\xitQi\ possession. We are plainly 
 
The Purchased Possession " 
 
 31 
 
 told therefore that what formerly belonged to others has been 
 acquired for us. And as the things recorded in Old Testa- 
 ment history, are said to be types of higher things, we should 
 perhaps regard the conquest of Canaan by Joshua as a shadow 
 of the acquisition of our Divine Joshua. " Now all these 
 things happened to them for ensamples." The Christian i Cor. x. n. 
 Church has indeed always assumed that Canaan is a type of 
 the final inheritance of redeemed mankind. Moreover the \ 
 whole celestial sphere and kingdom, which were the possession 
 of Satan and his angels, and which by transgression they 
 lost, must be inherited. Is not this the very inheritance 
 which the Son of God, as Man, has acquired for men ? If so, 
 we can understand in what sense the kingdom of Heaven has 
 all along "suffered violence." "We wrestle against princi- 
 palities, against powers in heavenly places." We are 
 
 besiegers. We need divine armour. We need invincibility 
 of will. The Strength of the King of Glory in us, is our in- 
 vincibility. Is it likely that the original inhabitants of the 
 heavenly Canaan, the thrones and powers, with all their 
 multitudes, would allow themselves quietly to be supplanted 
 by the race of man ? They knew that Jesus was the Son of 
 God, come in the flesh, as'^the Captain of our salvation, and 
 yet they assailed Him with every form of subtle temptation, 
 and to the very last, sought to overwhelm Him by the powers 
 and terrors of darkness. But He spoiled their principalities 
 and powers, triumphing over them, in our nature. The Lord Coi. ii. 15. 
 our God went before us, and subdued the Satanic Canaanites, 
 seven nations greater and mightier than we, and acquired their 
 inheritance for us. If "the angels that sinned" were those of 
 the highest heavens, — the first of all the Father's children, 
 and the nearest to Him, (which from every view of the charac- 
 ter and the history of evil is most probable), it follows as a 
 matter of course, that Christ, in His ascension, would leave all 
 the inhabited heavens far behind Him. 
 
 But after our Lord's entrance into " the acquired possession," 
 much remained to be done, " I go to prepare a place for you." 
 The possession is acquired, but all the authority and power of 
 
32 ■ * The Purchased Possession . ' ' 
 
 the enemy are not yet put down. Defeat after defeat awaits 
 them, and beyond all, the final defeat, after which they shall 
 neither have place, nor power, "in high places." But the race 
 which they deceived and ruined shall possess the inheritance 
 for ever. " Speak not thou in thy heart after that the Lord 
 thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my 
 righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this 
 land : but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth 
 Deut. ix. 4. drive them out from before thee." " O the depth ! Behold the 
 p^oodness and severity of God. How unsearchable are His 
 
 Rom. xi. 22, ? 1 ^ ,, 
 
 33. judgments. 
 
II. 
 
 Paul's prayer on behalf of his fellow believers. 
 
 CHAP. I. 15-23. 
 
 Chap. i. 15-18. — Wherefore I also, after I heard 
 of yoitr faith in the Lord Jesiis, and love tinto all the 
 saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for yon, making 
 mention of yon in my prayers : ly That the God of oicr 
 Lord Jesns Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you 
 the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the [full] knoiv- 
 ledge of Him : 18 TJie eyes of your heart [rovg 6f^a?.,ao!;$ 
 TTii Kaphictg i/,awv] being enlightened that yon may knoiv 
 what is the hope of His calling, ajid zvhat the riehes of 
 the glory of His inheritance in the Saints. 
 
 No one who knows what faith and love are, according to Faith and 
 the New Testament, will ever doubt that they are the most ?-ove— 
 human of all our capacities. They are distinct, yet essentially affections. 
 one. They are significant signs of our vast future. Give 
 yourself to history, to geology, astronomy, physiology, 
 chemistry, and you will correspondingly inform and expand 
 your mind. 
 
 But by faith, your spirit is at one with the wisdom and 
 goodness, the power and glory, the infinity and eternity of 
 God. Faith involves, therefore, the utmost enlargement of 
 soul, and yet begets nothing like self-exaltation. We say 
 nothing of nominal believers ; but minds which are in actual 
 sympathy with the Son of God, are in the condition to become 
 the master-minds of the universe. Nor can any one doubt Master-minds. 
 this, who understands the scope of God's purpose in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
34 Master-mhids. 
 
 It is not possible that " the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God," should establish their empire in certain men, 
 without constituting them " kings and priests unto God." 
 The elements of essential precedency and power are rooted 
 and grounded in them. By selfish thoughts of the Gospel, as 
 of a plan by which we are to be saved from misery and hell, 
 we spoil it of its Divine glory. The gospel of God compre- 
 hends higher and broader reaches of thought, than any subject 
 ever opened to the minds of angels, or men. Compared 
 with the work of Christ, all the thoughts which this visible 
 earth and heaven are capable of stirring in us, are divisive, and 
 very superficial. Pioneers of this and the other physical 
 science, flatter themselves that they are pre-eminently, the 
 sons of wisdom. Were they not already blinded through their 
 own conceit, they might be assured that they are often pitied 
 for their shallowness and puerility. In their own esteem they 
 are exclusively the students of science, but the truth Is, they 
 are only gatherers of old clothes, and classifiers of fragments. 
 By their own confession they know nothing of life : their whole 
 survey is confined to the outer rind of things. With respect 
 to the supreme science, they are but intellectual moles and 
 bats, or, as fish of their own pond, they do not know that their 
 pond cuts them off from the true Life-Ocean. Men who 
 eschew " faith in the Lord Jesus," and whose sole study is the 
 material universe, are precisely such fish. Perambulating their 
 limits, they assume that they are surveying the circuit of God's 
 truth. There is really no more relation between their whole 
 scientific survey, and God's Truth, than between a stagnant 
 duck pond and the ethereal ocean, which far above the atmo- 
 sphere of our planet, holds its calm empire undisturbed by 
 our nether clouds and currents. Nothing beyond physical 
 phenomena can ever come under the observation of the 
 physical senses ; and therefore the whole sum of scientific data 
 can have but partial and oblique relations to the sphere of 
 God's Eternal Truth. And yet there are in every age a 
 certain number of men, of the mundane and prone species, who 
 persist in regarding the rising day of the intellect in Christ, as 
 
Noble-mindedness and Noble-heart edness make one. 35 
 
 a fond conceit, and who would even supplant the Sun of 
 
 Truth, by their own murky experience. They are God's 
 
 lunatics, protesting that they are at large and free, while not 
 
 their mortal bodies only, but their very minds, are immured 
 
 in the jail of their own materialism. Christ would lead them 
 
 out of their prison-house, into the Light of God ; but they 
 
 will not be led by Him. Except to themselves, their vaunted 
 
 positivism has in it nothing positive. It is essentially a puerile 
 
 folly. The highest powers of their own nature are sunk into 
 
 a dead sleep, under the one-sided development of their minds ; 
 
 and yet they have the weakness and rashness to assume that 
 
 this one-sided experience of theirs is the test of Truth. Time 
 
 was when the Saurians had their positivism in this planet. 
 
 Their Saurian experience was to them the scope of 
 
 Truth. But the Saurians and their experience have become 
 
 obsolete ; and human minds darkened by their own wisdom, 
 
 will run out their little day, and sink under the great night. 
 
 Could they believe it, faith in the Incarnation of the Eternal 
 
 Logos, would open to their range, boundless fields, not of 
 
 misteaching facts, but of immutable Truth. From Him, 
 
 they might derive the " light of the knowledge of the glory of 
 
 God," which is the intelligence of faith, the only right human 2. Cor. iv. 6. 
 
 intelligence. 
 
 The noble-mindedness of faith is always associated with Nobie-mind- 
 a corresponding^ noble-heartedness. Faith and Love are edness and 
 inseparable bosom-companions. I constantly thank God, nessmakeone, 
 writes Paul, for your faith and love. " Your faith " is a divine 
 expansiveness given to your understanding, and " your love 
 unto all the saints " is a like vastness given to your affections. 
 They are the double suns of your soul, sun within sun. Whole 
 galaxies of wisdom are comprehended in faith, as in a mental 
 firmament. And as to the new spirit of Love, which is 
 Faith's associative soul, " He thatdwelleth in love, dwelleth in 
 God, and God in him." "Wherefore, I cease not to give i jno. iv. 16. 
 thanks for you," that the goodness and the greatness which 
 are everlasting are made sure to you. Your faith and love 
 are of unknown value. They constitute your initiation into an 
 
36 " The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation T 
 
 endless progress. Infinite truth is the scope of your mind ; 
 
 and infinite love, the scope of your heart. 
 
 Paul's prayer Paul prays, therefore, that his converts may not rest in their 
 
 for his f^rst crude knowledge of God and the gospel. But he knew 
 
 that in no other way could they grow in Divine knowledge, 
 
 than by receiving a " spirit of wisdom and revelation " from 
 
 God. "In my prayers " for you, I ask "that the God and 
 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may 
 
 give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
 
 ver. 27. knowledge of Him." 
 
 With wonder and thankful joy let us muse on the fact, that 
 by our " faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," we have become the 
 children of " the Father of Glory'' All beauty has one source; 
 all light has one Father. The glory of the holy angels, and 
 the glory which is above the heavens, proceed from one Father. 
 The glory of heaven is but a mild reflection. " The brightness 
 of His Glory," in its immutable and tranquil sweetness, shines 
 only in the face of " His only begotten Son." 
 "The Spirit "The Spirit of wisdom" is the ''Spirit of life in Christ 
 
 of wisdom and Jesus " ; and the spirit of " revelation " is the light of that life. 
 " In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." The 
 heart in man is the organ of the life, and the understanding, 
 the organ of the light of the Son of God. If God gave to us 
 " the spirit of revelation," apart from the wisdom which de- 
 lights in doing His will, we should be puffed up, rather than 
 built up. " Godly edifying " is better for us than the know- 
 ledge of mysteries. Paul's idea of order, therefore, is that 
 wisdom should precede knowledge. Where heavenly wisdom 
 is, heavenly knowledge will surely come to be. But Balaam's 
 eyes may be open, and he may utter marvels from a spirit 
 of revelation, and yet be very far from being a wise man. 
 His revelations are good and true, but he is double-minded, 
 and therefore, neither right with God, nor just to himself. If 
 in meekness and lowliness of heart, you are rather seeking 
 purity than mysteries ; and withal, if you desire not so much 
 your own fame, as to be of service to God and your fellow- 
 creatures, God has given to you " the spirit of wisdom." And 
 
The Father s Peculiar Inherita^tce. 37 
 
 in due time, as it is safe and profitable for you, He will give 
 you the spirit of revelation, for a deeper knowledge of divine 
 secrets. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, Ps. xxv. 14. 
 and He will show them His covenant." " If any man will do Jno. vii. 17. 
 His will, he shall know of the doctrine." In the cross and 
 death of Christ, in the ascension which follows His death, and 
 in the Pentecost which is consequent upon His ascension, 
 every human and Divine riddle is expounded. But the 
 mysteries are veiled, no natural mind can discern them ; " but 
 the wise shall understand." 
 
 Paul's phrase, "the eyes of your heart being enlightened," The "eyes of 
 teaches us that spiritual discernment is not given to the intel- 
 lect, but to renewed hearts. As the affections purify, the under- 
 standing becomes " light in the Lord." " Blessed are the pure 
 in heart, for they shall see God." In His light they see light. 
 
 Not without "the spirit of wisdom and revelation" directly 
 from God Himself, shall we ever know "what is the hope of 
 His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inherit- 
 ance in the saints." Believers in Christ have a "callingf" 
 peculiar to themselves. Other things affect them partially and 
 for moments; "the high calling of God" alone obtains the 
 assent and consent of their whole nature. Their " hope in 
 Christ" is not a mere idea : it is their leading passion, it 
 absorbs them. And what wonder ? since God Himself con- 
 templates with joy the glorious riches of His human inherit- 
 ance. This is the peculiar possession, which He foresaw, and 
 upon which He set His heart, before the foundation of the '^g^^.^jJa^/^^'"'^ 
 world. Spirits who have fallen, and are recovered, are inheritance, 
 singularly God's own inheritance : even as they intensely 
 and peculiarly inherit the depth and fulness of God. Has 
 not " The Father of Glory," " riches of glory," which 
 angels have never yet illustrated or embodied? Is it not 
 appointed to redeemed man, to bring out to view the hidden 
 things of God ? If there be one kingdom destined more 
 strikingly to manifest the riches of God's glory, than any 
 other, it must be that which was prospectively given to 
 His Son before the world began, as the crown of His humilia- 
 
38 Otir Ftttitre Standing in the Kingdom. 
 
 tion, and the reward of His suffering. Our Lord Himself 
 iid). xii. 2. meditated this recompense in the day of H is grief. " For the joy 
 that was set before Ilivi, He endured the Cross." The Cross- 
 Bearer is now drawing forth the very depths of God, and embody- 
 ing them in the kingdom that is growing about His throne. In 
 the nature of things, therefore, this kingdom is the Father's 
 pecuhar inheritance. There being in it more of Himself, it is 
 fitly predestinated to be the instrument of His right hand, by 
 which He will establish the universe in permanent order, teach 
 heaven profounder wisdom, and fulfil all His pleasure. 
 Our future Paul might well pray that by a spirit of revelation, God 
 
 staiKiinjrinthe -wQuld grant US to know ''what is the hope 0/ His calling^ 
 tiiL- Son of Had we a vivid perception of the riches of God's glory, 
 ^"^- which as members of His Son's Body, we are called to 
 
 possess and display, it could not fail to be very influential 
 in the spirit of our life, and the formation of our characters. 
 Moses " refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's daughter," 
 because " he had respect unto the recompense of the reward," 
 in the ultimate human kingdom. Whatever " the treasures 
 in Egypt " might be, he saw that, in the service of Christ, 
 he could win for himself "greater riches." It was his clear 
 discernment of superior riches which induced him to resign 
 iiei). xi.24-27. his prospects in Egypt. '' By faith'' Moses refused, &c., &c. 
 " Now faith is the evidence of things not seen." Suppose, 
 as believers, we foresaw more clearly our future offices, 
 ministries, and honours : — suppose, that, by " the spirit of 
 revelation," we had a positive discernment of the posts of 
 high influence and service which we are to occupy in the 
 future organization and government of the universe : — would 
 not " the hope of our calling," steadfastly held in view, operate 
 as a powerful defence against the absorbing spirit of this 
 present world .-* Would it not give a peculiar charm and 
 dignity to our bearing in the present life, if we habitually 
 contemplated ourselves as future " kings and priests unto 
 God," in His eternal empire ? Faith in an unseen kingdom of 
 rewards has always been a mighty, persuasive, and controlling 
 power. If it be not so with us, it ought to be a sign to us 
 that our faith is in name only. Were we daily thinking about, 
 
Our Future St miding in the Kingdom. 39 
 
 and asking for, the things which would best qualify us for 
 service in our final Home-kingdom, it would help us to shew 
 a noble reserve in relation to the petty interests and excite- 
 ments of the passing day. All earnest students, at our 
 schools and universities, know that they have an opportunity 
 of acquiring future distinction in the world ; and the members 
 of the Church of Christ should as certainly know, that they 
 have their opportunity of qualifying themselves for preferment 
 in His Eternal Kingdom. It is certain that high offices in 
 immediate connection with the throne and government of 
 God, will fall to the lot of the disciples of Christ. Otherwise 
 there were no meaning in their being distinctively called " the 
 Body of Christ," and the Father's special inheritance. Indeed, 
 our Lord's teaching is very emphatic, as to the future honours of 
 His faithful disciples. " Who then is a faithful and wise servant, 
 whom his lord hath made ruler over His household, to give 
 them meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant, whom 
 his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Verily I 
 say unto you, that He shall make him rider over all His 
 goods.'' " The kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into Matt, xxiv, 
 a far country, Who called His own servants, and delivered to "^5' ^'^' 
 
 them His goods After a long time the Lord of 
 
 those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. And so he 
 that had received five talents came and brought other five 
 talents, saying, Lord, Thou deliveredst unto me five talents : 
 behold I have gained beside them five talents more. His 
 Lord said unto him, " Well done thou good and faithful 
 servant : thou hast been faithful over a few things, / will make 
 thee rider over viany ihiitgs." Our Lord plainly asserts that Matt. 
 the capacity for future distinction in His kingdom is acquired '4-21 
 now. Your reward, both in kind and amount, will be gov- 
 erned by your present service. To the disciple who exhibits 
 a tenfold increase upon what he received. His Lord says : 
 " Have diou authority over ten cities'' To him who shews a Luke 
 fivefold increase, He says : " Have thotc authority over five '2-19 
 cities." It is during the absence of the king, that His ser- 
 vants acquire the qualifications which will crown them with 
 
 XXV. 
 
40 Another effect of the Spirit of Illumination. 
 
 distinction at His return. The wiser, the humbler, the more 
 dihgent and useful His servants are, behind His back, the 
 greater will be their power and glory, before His face, when 
 " the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdom of our 
 Lord and of His Christ." " The Son of Man shall come in 
 the glory of His Father, with His angels; and then He shall 
 Matt. xvi. 27. reward every man according to his work." 
 
 Chap. i. 19-23. — And xvhat is the exceeding greatness 
 of His Potvcr to ns-ivard ivho believe, according to the 
 working of His Mighty Power, 20 WJiich He wrought 
 in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set 
 Him at His o%vn right hand in the heavenly places, 
 21 Far above all Principality, and Poiver, and Might, 
 and Dominion, and every Name that is named, not only 
 in this %vorld, but also in that zvhich is to come: 22 And 
 hath pnt all tilings under His feet, and gave Hint to be 
 Head over all things to the Church, 23 Which is His 
 Body, the Fulness of Him zvhich filleth all in all. 
 
 Continuation There is little in the present appearance or condition of 
 
 of the prayer believcrs, to encourage the idea, that they are to be raised to 
 for believers. ^^^ highest rank of creatures. The thought of their being not 
 only an order of " kings unto God " but the supreme order, 
 will be treated with contempt. If the men of this world de- 
 spised the Master of the house, how much more shall they 
 scorn them of His household. Paul's prayer implies that no 
 one will be able to imagine the future rank and glory of the 
 redeemed, unless he is specially taught by " the spirit of 
 revelation " from God. Therefore he not only asks " The 
 Father of Glory" to reveal to the disciples of His Son, what 
 will be their future distinction ; but to exalt their conception 
 Another effect of the Powcr which is working in them, to qualify them for 
 of the Spirit ^^^ dominion and service to which they are appointed. No one 
 ation"'"'" doubts the greatness of God's Power ; but who has just or 
 worthy thoughts of " the exceeding greatness of His Power to 
 US-ward luJio believe ? " Faith opens the gate to the manifes- 
 
Chris fs Tomb an Illustration of the Power, etc. 41 
 
 tation of the Divine Power in the Soul. If this gate be shut, 
 God is restrained in His working. The noblest powers of 
 the man are buried as in their sepulchre. In the believer's 
 soul these powers are wakened into activity, and in them God 
 is working mightily. He is creating all things new, but so 
 silently and secretly, that only He knows, and He alone can 
 reveal the work which He is doing. Those who have the 
 highest deoree of illumination, do but see through a glass 
 darkly, when contemplating the interior changes which are 
 being wrought in them, " from glory to glory," by the working 
 Power of God. Consider the secret power which moves in 
 the husky seed-germ, until it springs sky-ward, spreading out 
 its leafy surface to the sun. Watch your household bulb 
 becoming a breathing, exhaling flower. Watch the unsightly 
 worm, until you see it become a golden sylph, and exchange 
 the earth for the freedom of the atmosphere. Or watch the 
 light as it comes issuing out of any dark body. Then ask 
 yourself. To what do all these transformations point ? Are 
 they not hints of the wonder-work of God in our dark, earthly 
 souls ? If seeds and worms undergo such changes, into what 
 forms of light and beauty will God transform His believing 
 children ? 
 
 The Power that is working in them is not a weaker power, 
 nor another power, but the Same Power, as that which wrought 
 in the crucified and entombed Body of our Lord. Paul sends 
 us to that chamber in the rock, for our chief lesson. There Go into 
 lies the mangled and bloodless body. A lance has bepn ^orlnuir^ 
 thrust through His heart : not a drop of blood remains therein, trationof the 
 Watch, and you shall see God's own illustration of His Power is°vorkrng"^ ^ 
 and working in all believers. By nature, we are as sepulchres in us. 
 in which our immortal nature lies in death. Only God can 
 raise us from the dead. Year by year He raises nature from 
 the dead, but He hides His great power under a veil of sur- 
 prising gentleness. The effects are seen, but we see not the 
 power working. Even so Jesus rose from the dead. There 
 was neither stir nor voice in that tomb. God filled that lifeless 
 form, as the spring warmth fills the trees, swells their buds, 
 
42 The Changes in our Lord's Htimanity. 
 
 The changes 
 in our Lord's 
 Humanity, 
 subsequent to 
 His resurrec- 
 tion. 
 
 and His 
 ascension. 
 
 and opens them into leaf. Jesus rose as quietly as a flower 
 lifts its head to the dawn. Calmly, and as free from excite- 
 ment, as one awaking from sleep, He left the sepulchre. The 
 linen that was about His body, bore witness to His calm self- 
 possession. A leisurely hand had folded it up. Such is the 
 Godlike way in which death is destroyed by a Power greater 
 than death, and the light of immortality kindled in man. ^ Man 
 is saved. The power that moves in the tree, moves in the 
 branches too. " I am the vine, you are the branches." His 
 new -life-warmth is in us. Christ liveth in us. The diffusion 
 of His ascension through our souls, is as much a fact as the 
 diffusion of solar rays through the earth. The change which 
 has been wrought in Christ shall be wrought in His members 
 also. 
 
 The change wrought in Christ on His resurrection-morning 
 was but the first of a series of changes. During the forty 
 days which He passed between His disciples on earth, and 
 His work in Hades, the process of His glorification was going 
 on. His ascension to Heaven only waited until Heaven and 
 His Humanity were brought into perfect accord. The moment 
 of complete assimilation, and the moment of ascension are the 
 same. From that moment He was parted from His disciples 
 by an immense distinction of nature. Nor must we suppose 
 that the last change was wrought in Him at His ascension. 
 There were yet sublimer and sublimer changes to be effected. 
 For He had not only to enter Heaven, but to pass through all 
 the Heavens, on His way to His Throne " over all." And as 
 a series of transformations prepared His humanity to go up 
 from Hades to Heaven ; in like manner we must presume 
 that other and higher transformations characterized His rise 
 from Heaven to Heaven. His human nature would put on 
 the glory of each successive Heaven. But in order to leave 
 Heaven after Heaven behind Him, it would be necessary that 
 His humanity should surpass the power, purity, and glory of 
 each Heaven. We may be sure that there was nothing 
 arbitrary in the movement of His Human Nature through 
 the heavens. If He found not His permanent throne and 
 
Nothing arbitrary in the Elevation of Man. 43 
 
 sphere of influence, until He was far above them all, it was 
 
 for no other reason than that our nature in Him was being 
 
 wrought up to a condition transcending any thing that had 
 
 been known throughout the heavens. According to the 
 
 testimony both of Paul and John, the fashion and glory of 
 
 His appearance had undergone unspeakable changes after His 
 
 last interview with His disciples on mount Olivet. There was Actsxxvi. 13- 
 
 nothing over-powering in His glory on Olivet, but some half ^^^^ j ,j.jg 
 
 century later, when John, being " in the Spirit," saw Him, the 
 
 glory was more than he could endure. " When I saw Him, 
 
 I fell at His feet as dead." 
 
 That our nature should be set on a level with the original 
 thrones and dominions of heaven, is perhaps more than we 
 should look for; but Paul asserts that the transforming Power of 
 God has raised it ''far above all principality, and power, and 
 might and dominion." He asks God to make known to us this 
 fact by a spirit of revelation. Nothing short of the teaching of 
 the Holy Spirit will ever open to us the true significance of the 
 Incarnation. We should wrong both the wisdom and justice Nothing arbi- 
 of God, were we to suppose that He has arbitrarily raised human ^^^"^ i'^ ^^^ 
 nature to the highest throne and dominion. God raises ml. 
 nothing, and never will raise anything, above its own legitimate 
 rank and character. Our Lord distinctly taught the two 
 disciples who asked Him that they might be, the one on His 
 right hand, and the other on His left, in His kingdom, that 
 there would be no favouritism in His kingdom. The 
 Humanity of Jesus is raised to the Supreme Throne, 
 because it has acquired the Highest Virtues and Powers. It 
 is raised above all, because it is above all. It alone embodies 
 and represents "all the fulness of the Godhead." Infinite 
 Justice would not allow our nature, even in the Person of 
 Jesus, to take a seat above all the thrones of heaven, until 
 it possessed qualities that surpassed them. Before the Man, 
 Christ, " sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high," 
 as "the Head of all Principality and Power," He had already 
 " obtained a more excellent name than they." Our nature, Coi. ii. 10. 
 which in Christ has vanquished and subdued every tempting ^^^•••4- 
 
44 Nothing arbitrary in the Elevatiojt of Man. 
 
 and adverse power, is the chief of all the ways of God, and 
 the first work of the Divine Power. The highest things in 
 heaven are under His feet. In other words, the lowest 
 principles in the Human Nature of Christ, are made higher 
 than the highest principles in angelic nature. " I overcame, 
 
 Rev. iii.2i. and am set down with my Father in His Throne." *' Being 
 
 Heb.i.4. made so much better than the angels," all "angels, authorities 
 
 I Peteriii.22. and powers are made subject unto Him." Awful supremacy 
 of Man ! Not possible to be uttered ! Yet Paul's motive in 
 praying that we may understand this great wonder-work of 
 God, is, that we may know what is " the hope of our calling^ 
 For the same Power which wrought in Christ is now working 
 in us, that we may be made partakers with Him. " Ye are 
 complete in Him, which is the Head of all Principality and 
 
 ji°o!xvii.24. Power." " Father, I will that they be with Me where I am." 
 
 In our present state of darkness and humiliation, we can in 
 
 no wise lift ourselves up to the height of our Divine calling in 
 
 Christ Jesus. The power of contemplation is weak in us 
 
 through the fall. But " we are married to Him, Who is raised 
 
 Rom. vii. 4. from the dead." In His death we are dead, and in His life 
 we are alive a^ain for evermore. Our old nature holds us, but 
 we are in a manner dead to it : our new nature in Christ is 
 attracting us much more strongly than our fallen nature ever 
 did : more strongly because more deeply, and with our whole 
 approval. Between us and our reigning Head, there is a liv- 
 ing, organic connection, a most real and most near relation. 
 
 I Cor. vi. 17. " He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." " All the body 
 by joints and bands" is "knit together" with the Head, 
 " havinof nourishment ministered " from the Head, that all the 
 members of the body may grow and increase "with the mcrease 
 
 Col. ii. 19. of God." The nourishment, which "the King of Glory " 
 ministers unto our souls, is His glory. " The glory which 
 
 jno. xvii. 22. Thou gavest me I have given them." If streams of life were 
 not constantly descending from Christ to His members on the 
 earth, how could they " grow up into Him in all things?" 
 Our hope of being with Him in glory, and of being " like Him," 
 is "sure and steadfast," inasmuch as His glory is now being 
 
The great Calamity. 45 
 
 " rooted, grounded, and built up in us." The " nourishment 
 ministered " by Him is " meat indeed," and " drink indeed," 
 and is surely preparing us for transformation " into the same 
 Image." 
 
 And our Lord being " Head over all things to the Church, "all things" 
 which is His body," He is causing all things to work together chmt^for 
 for her perfecting. The heavenly hosts, knowingly, and the His body's 
 creatures and circumstances of time, unknowingly, are hiinister- 
 ing to the special " kingdom of heaven," which is now in 
 formation. The whole creation is as one tree, for the growth 
 and ripening of one fruit, namely, " The Body of Christ." 
 
 The empire of redeemed men, since it is to be a manifesta- 
 tion of Christ's fulness, must needs be of inconceivable magni- 
 tude, as well as a beauteous unity. As every organ and part 
 of the body is necessary to every other organ and part, so are 
 all the organs and parts to the Head. " Now ye are the body 
 of Christ, and members in particular." The whole Church as i Cor xii. 27. 
 one body, vastly and richly manifold, is filling, and to be filled 
 with the " Fulness of the Godhead ; " for the " Fulness of the 
 Godhead " is *' the fulness of Christ." It is the good pleasure 
 of the Eternal Father that the kingdom of His Son should pre- 
 eminently bring out to view, and mirror the most hidden depths 
 of His nature. 
 
 The whole number and organization of redeemed men 
 being complete, as one Divine Body and Kingdom, it will be 
 ruled and swayed as one, by the indwelling Spirit of Christ, 
 and through Him, by God the Father; and thus be the central 
 organ and the first servant of His Love to the universe. But 
 the ultimate mission of the kingdom and forces of redeemed 
 humanity, is not yet disclosed. 
 
 Compared with the one grand sorrow of not being a The great 
 member of this Divine Human Kingdom, no calamity can ^^'^"^''y- 
 ever be called great. However long the series, and painful 
 the character, of our trials may be, we shall call them a light 
 affliction, and but for a moment, if they open our way to our 
 Eternal Home. But every other root of human life "shall 
 be as rottenness," save that of "Christ in us;" and all 
 
46 The great Calamity. 
 
 blossom except that of His Beauty upon us, " shall go up as 
 isa. V. 24. dust." 
 
 Alone before God ; and looking forward to your own Eter- 
 nity, review the whole prayer, (17 to 23 v.) and muse there- 
 upon, until you feel the insanity of allowing any thing in time, 
 or mortal life, to becloud "the Hope" with which "the Father 
 of Glory " is seeking to allure the children of men. 
 
III. 
 
 . THE STRIKING CONTRAST BETWEEN THE NATURAL CONDITION OF 
 MEN, AND THEIR NEW CONDITION IN ChRIST JeSUS. CHAP. II. 
 
 Chap. ii. 1-3. — And you who were dead in trespasses 
 and sin ; 2 W/ierei7i i7i time past ye walked according 
 to the course of this zvorld, according to the prince of the 
 poiver of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the 
 cJiildren of disobedience : 3 Among zvJiom also we all 
 had oicr conversation, [the scope of our life,] in times 
 past in the lusts of our flcsJi, fulfilling the desires of 
 the flesh ajid of the mind ; and zvere by nature the 
 children of wrath, even as others. 
 
 Our exaltation in Christ is not self-exaltation. Having 
 carried us so far beyond ourselves, lest any motion of spiritual 
 pride should be stirred in us, our Apostle immediately sets 
 before us what we are in ourselves. If, by being made the The highest 
 Body of Christ we are raised above angels, He shows good ^^^ *^ '^"'"' 
 reason why we should be humbler and meeker than they, creatures. 
 The kingdom of regenerate men, in virtue of its most 
 intimate relation with the Son of God, is spoken of by the 
 prophets, not simply as " The House of the Lord," but as 
 beinof ''Ike moiuilain of the House of the Lord." Never- 
 theless its members, though inheriting the loftiest powers, and 
 occupying the central sphere of the Divine government, will 
 neither oppress, nor grieve any order of Heavenly spirits. 
 There will doubtless, to eternity, be a peculiarly attractive 
 beauty in the humility of those who were once lost spirits, 
 "dead in sin." And if they are as "the little child" among 
 the hosts of Heaven, it will not gall the elder angels, that 
 
48 Danger of rejecting Truth. 
 
 they are the greatest, and that the hill of their inheritance is 
 exalted above all the heavenly hills. It will rather be a pure 
 satisfaction to them, that the most self-renouncing of all 
 creatures should be vested with supreme power and glory. 
 Danger of The words Commencing this chapter declare truths so 
 
 rejecting unpalatable, that they require, on the part of the expositor, the 
 
 greater faithfulness, and both for himself and his readers, a 
 spirit of prayer and meekness, lest we dissent from Truth, and 
 abide by fallacies. In the present state of our nature, apparent 
 truth, that is, fallacy, has a far greater hold upon us than 
 Truth. Until the soul has made some considerable progress 
 in regeneration. Divine Truth is in positive disfavour. Our 
 own views of the present world and of our natural condition, 
 do not greatly disturb our self-approbation ; but God's way of 
 setting ourselves before ourselves is very humbling and dis- 
 turbinof. Men do not like to be told that human nature, as 
 they inherit it, is a constituted enmity against the Truth of 
 God. Against the Truth, and against the first estate of 
 their own nature, are the same thing. For man's divergence 
 from Truth is no greater than his divergence from the original 
 condition of humanity, as being in the image of God. Indeed 
 it is probably not so great, since in thought and desire he is 
 often nearer to the kingdom of God, than is possible to be 
 realized in the present spurious form of his being. " God 
 inflicted no more penalty on Adam for his sin, than you would 
 inflict upon your children, if they should blow out their own 
 eyes by an act of disobedience, in the use of gunpowder." You 
 would deeply feel for and pity them that they had cut them- 
 selves off from light all the days of their life. And it is certain 
 that, " like as a father pitieth his children," God pitied Adam 
 for that unhappy change which, under the action of his own 
 choice, had been wrought in him. " God was grieved at His 
 heart," and from that day to this has continued to pity the 
 fallen race. The only thing which was crucified in Jesus, or 
 which needed to be crucified, was that which Adam and his 
 race had become through their fall. But the whole will and 
 affections of men have consented to their nature as it is ; they 
 
The natural Life of the Soul is its Death. 49 
 
 have adopted it, and cannot endure the thought that it is 
 essentially at variance with God's idea and requirement. They 
 cannot conceive that their natural life is just a mask drawn 
 over their spiritual death. The apparent truth is, that man, 
 " by nature," is very much alive ; but the Truth is, that, " by 
 nature," the real man is dead. Again, the apparent truth is, 
 that " the course of this world," is according to God ; but the 
 Truth is, that it is according to a very different spirit, and not 
 according to God. Judging from appearance, what evidence 
 is there that a new-born babe is the fruit of wrath ? And yet 
 our nature, left to its own working, and coming to its own 
 natural issue, corroborates the Bible testimony, that " by 
 nature, we are all the children of wrath." Pleasing as 
 the apparent truth may be, and displeasing as Truth 
 may be, we had better take God's part, and stand on His 
 side, although it be against ourselves, and against the 
 whole world. In the end, we shall find that God's truth, 
 instead of being against us, is the only voice that calls us back 
 from our degradation, to the true and original dignity of our 
 nature. Strange, that men should be averse to their own 
 honour, and plead for their debasement. Strange, that they 
 should trample their own crown under their feet, and abide by 
 a form of nature, which renders the restoration of their crown 
 an impossibility. The soul of man has fallen into a life which 
 is a death unto God and heavenly things. 
 
 Our Lord does not say that He came to seek and to save The natural 
 that which was in dangler of beine lost, but " that which was ?^^^ of the soui 
 
 00' ig jli5 death. 
 
 losty Nor does He say of the prodigal son, who represents 
 every man's natural condition, that he would have died, and 
 would have been lost, but that he ''was dead" and ''was lost.'' 
 So the Apostle says in this place, you "were dead'' in time 
 past, when you walked according to the course of this world. 
 Death, therefore, as Christ and inspired men speak of death, 
 is precisely the same thing as all natural men call their, life. 
 And it is undeniable, that men have fallen into a life which 
 is a death to God, and to the heavenly life. Enmity against 
 God could not exist except in an intelligent life. And this 
 
 D 
 
50 The nahtral Life of the Soul is its Death. 
 
 opens up to us the secret of '' the power of deaths Death 
 would have no power to hold any human soul back from God, 
 if that death were not a pleasure. The soul pleasing itself in 
 the sensible objects of this world, and not pleasing itself in 
 God, is its death. The opportunity of drinking the river of 
 God's pleasures, is given to men, but they have no heart to it. 
 What does this prove but that the present form and condition 
 of human nature is a most real death ? The death into which 
 the angels fell has passed upon men. The difference being 
 that the fallen angels have no earthly bodies, and are there- 
 fore incapable of enjoying the sensible pleasures of the world, 
 except so far as they taste them through the souls of men. 
 But there is no other separation between the fallen angels and 
 unregenerate men, than their mortal bodies. If in the 
 affections and strength of their own natural life, men resist 
 the life which God offers to them in His Son, what clearer 
 evidence could they have that " the power of death " has the 
 mastery over them ? " Ye will not come to Me that ye 
 might have life." 
 
 There is even a natural proof that human life in this world 
 labours under the great "power of death." Why should it be 
 impossible for the men in heaven to die, and impossible for 
 men on earth to continue in life ? Our Lord speaking of 
 those "who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world," 
 says, " neither can they die any more, because they are equal 
 unto the angels, and are the children of God." But on earth 
 35. 36. men cannot live, because, having lost the Divine Life, they 
 
 have fallen under the dominion of temporal nature, and they 
 must share with the vegetable and animal world, in the 
 general law of death. But if men were " the children of God," 
 according to their first make, they would have dominion over 
 the conditions and laws of temporal nature. Creatures who 
 are in harmony with the Nature of God cannot die ; and 
 creatures who fall out of harmony with God, and into harmony 
 with physical nature, cannot have any thing but a vain life, 
 subject to sorrow and death. 
 
 Though out of agreement with God, and no longer His 
 
 Jno. V. 40. 
 
 Lu. XX. 
 
How the Cross may be Escaped. 5 1 
 
 true children, seeing that they are in agreement with " the 
 course of this world," until they are awakened by the Spirit of 
 God, they do not painfully feel the vanity and humiliation of 
 their condition. Indeed they find a satisfaction in their fall, 
 and are unwilling to be redeemed. " I called, ye refused," 
 " I would, but you would not," complains their Saviour. 
 The world finds occupation and entertainment enough for 
 their mortal nature, completely to hide from their view the 
 death and misery of their immortal humanity. 
 
 Oh, most strange world! God is indeed in thee, and "This world." 
 ceaselessly working for thy good ; but He is in thee as One 
 Whom thou knowest not. " There standeth One among you 
 Whom ye know not." God loves thee, thou strange world ; John i. 26. 
 but thou art a very real Cross to Him. He asks thee 
 for grapes ; thou givest to Him a wild growth, but not 
 grapes. He asks thee for drink; thou givest to Him vinegar 
 mingled with gall. He asks thee for "thy heart;" thou 
 givest to Him solemnities, and reservest thy love for thine 
 own pleasures. Strange world ! He is thy life ; and yet thou 
 art dead to Him. To be dead to Him is quite natural to thee; 
 but how unnatural is thy natural ! To begin to live to Him, 
 is to begin to die to thyself. And wholly to die out of thyself, is 
 to enter into life. To die, as thou callest dying, is to live . 
 indeed ; and to live, as thou callest living, is to be dead indeed. 
 Most strange world ! Thou art " the tree of the knowledge 
 oi good and evil,'" of which we were so earnestly warned in the 
 beginning. There is so much in thee that is beautiful and 
 good ; thou easily persuadest unwary souls, that to live accord- 
 ing to thee, cannot be displeasing to God. 
 
 Men may spare themselves much conflict and difficulty, by How the 
 living "according to the course of this world." They will escaped!''^ 
 escape the Divine Cross ; but they w^ll also renounce the 
 Divine Life. To live " according to this world " is said to 
 be " according to the prince of the power of the air." With 
 a subtle, mighty force, the spirit of the world makes itself one 
 with the spirit of our blood, and gladly we yield submission 
 to the warm gulf-stream ; but the Spirit of God cries, ' children, 
 
52 " The Prince of the Power of the AirT 
 
 swim not with, but against the stream.' The methods and 
 arts are innumerable by which the spirit of the world seeks 
 to bury in oblivion every thought of our eternal interests. 
 So strongly are we inclined, " by nature," to the course of 
 this world, that we shrink back from Christ as though His 
 life would be our death. 
 
 On the ground of there being a great and powerful order 
 of spirits, who are bitterly and determinedly opposed to the 
 life of God in man, " the course of this world " is perfectly 
 intelligible. Otherwise, indeed, the disaffection of the fleshly 
 soul towards God, as a condition that is natural to us, would 
 be wholly inexplicable. 
 Apology Willingly, therefore, we make this apology for men. If the 
 
 for man. prevailing spirit and current of the present world, be " accord- 
 
 ing to the Prince of the power of the air," then the chief blame 
 of man's spiritual death remains with that great adversary, 
 whose name comprehends not legion, but legions of legions. 
 God blames man, that he stubbornly prefers the smooth gulf- 
 stream of flesh and blood, after He has called him to another 
 course ; but at the same time, yearns over him with fatherly 
 pity, knowing that the force which carries him along, is not 
 simply in the world without him, but in the life within him. 
 The enemy has not sown into man a propensity to evil ; there 
 is also a " power of the air" which is adverse to the Divine Life. 
 It is therefore strictly according to His loving Justice, that the 
 "The prince Father of men holds " the Prince of this world " to be mainly 
 of the power accountable for "the power of death," which reigns in their 
 ^^^^^"'•" souls. 
 
 Without any perceptible noise or effort, you breathe the 
 air and live thereby ; but more noiselessly, and without awaking 
 the slightest suspicion of their presence, designing spirits enter 
 your souls, kindle desire, and lead forth thought, "according to 
 their will." The secret evil which is done by them every day 
 is beyond all power of calculation. Our Lord declares that 
 much of the divine seed which He sows into human souls is 
 devoured by these spirits. When beasts and birds of prey 
 tear and devour the lamb, they are not turned to lambs, but 
 
Parable. 53 
 
 they subject the lamb to build up and strengthen their own 
 nature. Even so, evil spirits appropriating Christ's seed turn 
 it to their own evil. The good which they take from man is 
 only one-half of the mischief which they do him. They rob 
 him, and sow in him their own seed of thought and will. 
 Their types may be found in those insects and reptiles, which, 
 while in the act of taking the blood of their prey, inject into 
 them their own poison. 
 
 " The spider puts forth from herself a gossamer thread. Parable. 
 which floats in the air and catches hold of something where 
 she is not ; but no sooner does she find the farther end of her 
 thread fastened, than she goes forth upon it, strengthening it 
 and making it her highway. She thus opens and establishes 
 communication over a gulf, which, but for her airy bridge she 
 could not cross. Having suspended her bridge, she lets down 
 pendants, and weaves between them an all but invisible gauze, 
 in which her prey are to be taken before they suspect their 
 danger." The crafty spider would be still more Satan-like, if 
 she could prevail upon the flies to weave the web, in which 
 she meant to take them. " The Prince of the power of the 
 air" is master enough of his art to do this. He persuades the 
 souls of men, by a projection of their thoughts and desires, to 
 weave themselves into connection with himself. And the 
 more logical and conclusive their thought-system can be made 
 to appear, so much the stronger is the connecting web between 
 them and his kingdom. By this web he holds them, and over 
 it he travels to poison and destroy them. It would be beyond 
 his power to hold, or to poison any single soul, unless he first 
 obtained the co-operation of that soul. He is, therefore, 
 unsparing in the use of flattery. He compliments the human 
 intellect on its system of thought. He persuades strong- 
 minded men that the Christian faith is a weakness, but that 
 their scientific method, being based on actual facts, is un- 
 answerable. Honied poison. " The depth of Satan." He 
 leads men to make a joke of his very existence, and at the 
 same time, gives direction to their thoughts and imagmations, 
 that they may weave themselves into his power. Thought 
 
54 Union with Christ our only Hope of Salvation. 
 
 and desire are a soul-web floating in that subtle region of 
 which Satan is the Prince and Power. The invisible works 
 which connect souls with the apostate soul-world are carried 
 on without intermission night and day. And these secret 
 thought-operations and imaginations of the soul are as real as the 
 soul herself Satan's " strongholds " are expressly said to be 
 reasonings (" Xoy/ff/AOi)?,") and every high thing (tSi/ '\j-\uiij.a), every 
 lofty fortress built up by the enemy in man's heart and intel- 
 2 Cor. 5. lect, "that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." 
 Every man on the earth is secretly forming his own relation, 
 either with the kingdom of Heaven, or with the great fallen 
 spirit-world. 
 
 If the case be so with the invisible shafts of our thoughts, 
 imaginations, and desires, which are momently going forth from 
 our souls, it is of greater importance than any of us can at 
 present estimate, that these hidden motions and workings 
 should be under Divine control and guidance. If our souls 
 are under the Son of God, He will not only lead out the hosts 
 of our thoughts and affections in the right eternal direction, but 
 will form thereof a ladder of ascent and descent for the ministry 
 of angels, between Himself and us. 
 Union with Both by the living voice of His servants and the inward 
 
 un'iy'hoprof i"^P^ilse of His Spirit, God is urging, beseeching men to enter 
 salvation. into soul-uuion with His Son. Nothing less than this union 
 can save them from falling a prey to the Fowler. If they 
 reject the counsel of God, they are the children of disobedience, 
 and abide in league with the great fallen spirit, " who has the 
 power of death," 
 
 A law of death runs throughout all nature, and you are 
 children of nature : therefore the law of death runs through 
 you. Its stronghold is in your spirit. "Who shall deliver 
 you ? " You cannot deliver yourself The Power is so much 
 at one with the nature of your soul. Who shall separate between 
 you and zV, and deliver you? " I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." He will deliver you from your self-pleasing 
 bosom subtlety, by His Divine subtlety. The action of His 
 life is most secret and intense, "quick and powerful, and 
 
A Contrast. 55 
 
 sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the divid- 
 ing asunder of soul and spirit." The tenacity of your souHsh 
 life will hold and captivate your spirit-life for ever, if His life 
 do not penetrate between them, and deliver you. 
 
 In times past, when we were merely the children of nature, 
 we were all sold under this power. Until we gave our consent 
 to the inward rule and dominion of Jesus, we were under " the 
 Prince of the Power of the air." Even now the subtle element 
 of his power wraps us about so closely, that we are constantly 
 inbreathing it, and kindling into activity the fallen nature of 
 our souls. If we are in earnest to be renewed and saved, it is 
 important that we should cultivate an habitual yearning of 
 desire after inward purity. If we inbreathe the Divine element 
 of which Jesus is the Prince and the Power, we shall overcome 
 at once the base element of our souls, " the course of this 
 world," and Satan. " Thanks be unto God who giveth us the 
 victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." i Cor. xv. 57. 
 
 Chap. ii. 4-7. — But God, Who is rich in mercy, for 
 His great Love zvherezvitJi He loved us, 5 Even zvhen we 
 were dead in sins, hath quickened us together zvith Christ 
 {by Grace ye are saved, see verse 8) ; 6 And hath raised 
 us tip together, and made us sit together in heavenly 
 places in Christ jfesus: y That in the ages to come He 
 might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kind- 
 ness towards us through Christ jfesus. 
 
 Behold another picture of human nature. The former is a contrast, 
 very dark, it is revolting. This is too bright, we are confounded 
 by the glory. According to the former view of man, he is the 
 prey and sport of Satan ; according to this view, God loves 
 him, and is wholly on his side. The first represents him as 
 being clothed upon with a false life, and within that as being 
 dead : in this he is declared to be inseparably one, in life and 
 glory, with the Son of God. How strange that both these 
 should be conditions of the same creature ! In the valley of 
 
S^ The PVork of Love. 
 
 this world, we behold him walking " in a vain shew," " without 
 hope ; " we lift our eyes, and lo, he is walking in freedom, as a 
 son, restored to the eternal ages of his Father's right hand. 
 The one is but the dark back-ground of the other. Man is 
 the chaos and darkness upon which God makes His Love to 
 arise and shine ; and evolves out of the dark ground, a new 
 nature of incorruptible substance and purest beauty. 
 
 '^j?','^^ ereatness " God who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith 
 He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened 
 us together with Christ." The greatness of this love is the 
 greatness of God. The Love of God, is the God of Love. 
 Who can speak of the riches of mercy which are the hidden 
 depths of His Love } The whole amount of love in this one 
 fallen world is unimaginable. How much less can we conceive 
 the love which is diffused through the universe. Before the 
 love of the Infinite Father, therefore, we are struck dumb. 
 Yet we cannot be silent. Love compels utterance. Because 
 Love is, and above all, because " God is Love," there must be 
 speech. God can never utter His Love, but for that very 
 reason. He will be always uttering it. He is Love-constrained. 
 Angels and men are love-constrained. They are always and 
 always embodying in speech and song what can never be fully 
 spoken or sung. 
 
 The work of God's highest work, His eternally accepted work, is to con- 
 
 quer by His love all the difficulties and evils consequent on 
 creaturely wills. Rebellion against Himself is permitted on an 
 immense scale, as an evidence that His intelligent creatures 
 have a personal freedom of choice and action ; and that He 
 may show that the resources of His Love are adequate to 
 every possible form and mystery of evil. Great is the 
 mystery of sin, its subtlety, its depth, its power, its marvellous 
 diffusion, its action upon the universe, its fair appearances, its 
 pleasures, its manifold intellectual plausibleness ; but God takes 
 up the whole mystery of sin, and in bearing it, and dealing 
 Math it, brings into manifestation both the riches of His Love, 
 and the depths of His Wisdom. Moreover, all God's obedient 
 creatures are becoming stronger, through the opposition of the 
 
 Love. 
 
The Method of Love. 57 
 
 enemy. Their unity likewise is becoming closer and richer, 
 through their combined resistance of the wide-spread evil. 
 Had sin not been permitted, we should never have known the 
 fearful possibilities of the sublimest function of creaturehood; nor 
 should we ever have known what was in God. In permitting 
 disaffection towards Himself to spread as far as it can spread, 
 and opposition against Himself to do the very utmost that it 
 can do, and to continue as long as it can, God has shown, how 
 complete His rest is, in the eternal Righteousness and Strength 
 of His Fatherly government. His plan with determined evil 
 is to allow it to display all its skill and power, and by its own 
 measures to work out its own defeat. Hell and all rebellious 
 spirits will see in the end, that self-defeat was the inevitable 
 issue of every scheme of opposition which they ever conceived 
 against the rule of God. With penitent spirits God has 
 another plan, namely by His gentleness to lead them to self- 
 conquest ; and to fill and clothe them with the might and per- 
 fectness of His Son. After which they become great Powers. 
 *' As many as received Him, to them gave He power." " You 
 shall receive power." 
 
 That God should either lower His own character, or abate an 
 iota of His claim, is clearly an impossibility. " I change not." 
 If man be saved, he must be wholly won from every thing in 
 himself which is the fruit of the fall. He must be brought 
 out of his own will ; he must resign himself utterly to the un- 
 changed and unchangeable will of God. 
 
 Very marvellous is the method of God's Love, by which He The method of 
 is breaking the power of evil and alluring the heart of man to 
 Himself That His Son might become the centre of rebellion, 
 and have direct relations with all the powers of evil. He was 
 clothed upon with our flesh, and sent into the world. The 
 extremes of the universe were thus brought together in Him. 
 His coming in the flesh is called the day of grace and ven- 
 geance ; to penitent man, grace ; to stubborn evil, vengeance. 
 " The day of vengeance is in thy heart, and the year of my re- isa. ixiii. 4. 
 deemed is come." " The Lord hath anointed Me to preach 
 good tidings to the meek ; He hath sent Me to bind up the 
 
58 The Trial of the New Life. 
 
 broken-hearted, &c., &c., to proclaim the acceptable year of 
 isa. ixi. I, 2. the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." In our flesh, 
 at length, Satan found a bulwark of righteousness against which, 
 by all his craft and all his power, he could in no wise prevail. 
 By His obedience unto death, Christ bruised the head of all 
 evil, and rising again. He became our Lifegiver for evermore. 
 When the sinless One died for sin, it was sin that died : when 
 He rose, it was His sinlessness that rose, in our nature. As 
 many as receive Him, receive His death for the death of their 
 sin, and His sinlessness for their new life. In the daily tears 
 of penitence, and by the incense of thanksgiving from myriads 
 of human hearts, sin confesses itself to be wholly conquered by 
 "the exceeding riches of God's grace, in His kindness towards 
 us through Christ Jesus." Day by day, the power of Satan, in 
 the souls of men, is broken, and the Love of God enthroned. 
 Not only Love, but the Purity of God, is becoming a deep- 
 rooted passion in the breasts of sinful men. Calvary is a 
 divine success. " Thine, O Lord, is the Victory." " The 
 I Cor. i. 25. foolishness of God is wiser than men ; and the weakness of 
 God is stronger than men." Jesus is God's short but perfect 
 method of reaching the highest possible end, namely the con- 
 quest of sin and the perfection of man. 
 
 The eternal Father pouring His Heart upon us through 
 such a channel, loves us into life again. We are one life with 
 Christ. Had not God given His Son to be one with us 
 in our humiliation and death, we could never have re- 
 covered our lost life. He sowed Himself into our death, to 
 recover us from death. The glory-life of Heaven and Eternity, 
 is given to the man Christ Jesus, without measure, for the 
 whole race. The Love of God (made shrill by His sorrows 
 and death), penetrates the eternal ground in us, and kindles 
 therein the extinguished life. Being interiorly dead, the 
 natural man has no conception of the possibilities of his nature. 
 He cannot imagine that a world of new sensibilities could be 
 opened in his soul, which in fact would make him an essentially 
 ^, . , ^ new man, and relate him to the kino^dom of heaven. 
 
 1 lie trill of 
 
 the nevv life. But the first kindling of the Divine life, in a fallen soul, 
 
" It is Finished'' in Christ. 59 
 
 cannot be an unmixed experience ! If you kindle a fire in 
 green wood, along with the fire you will have clouds of smoke 
 and vapour. Under the new and searching element there will 
 also be much noise, from the fretting and steaming of the green 
 wood. But in due time the fire will make a free passage for 
 itself, and rising from the centre straightway towards heaven, 
 the noise and vapour of smoke will subside, and there will be 
 a clear glowing heat. " So is the kingdom of God." Let not 
 newly quickened souls therefore be surprised, or confounded, 
 by the internal conflict which the new life awakens in them. 
 It must needs be so, while the carnal element is dominant in 
 the soul. But there is great distinction in persons. Some are 
 so meek by nature, and so sweetly and promptly respond to 
 the Love of God in Christ, that they know little of conflict. 
 " Consider the lilies, how they grow, they toil not," &c. ; yet 
 are they beauteously arrayed. "Take heed that ye despise not 
 one of these little ones ; for I say unto you that in heaven 
 their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is 
 in heaven." But where the fleshly element of the soul is strong 
 and crafty, God hides Himself, for He finds nothing congenial. 
 In many an earthly soul the Divine Life has but a trying, 
 bitter experience. It is as the life of Jesus in Judea over 
 again. His own receive Him not. He hath not where to lay 
 His head. In moments of recollection, the life of God in the 
 soul sighs, as though it were well nigh suffocated, groans under 
 heavy bondage, and hangs in doubt as to the issue. The pro- 
 cess will be humbling, and it may be very painful, but the most 
 earthly and sensual spirits can be delivered and purified. Let 
 such souls loathe their own serpentine cunning and impurity, 
 and turn themselves wholly to the Lamb of God. One spring 
 suffices to call forth lilies from their roots ; but the cedars 
 of Lebanon must underoro a p-reat fio^ht of affliction, and attain 
 their maturity by very slow processes. 
 
 In our "last Adam" the whole work is done, death is "it is 
 dead, and all wrath is passed away. Perfect human nature fjf' j'jfris't' 
 is our portion in Him. "God who is rich in mercy," has 
 done the best for us which could be done. Infinite Love 
 
6o Our Htiman yoy. 
 
 could not desire, nor infinite Wisdom devise for us, greater 
 distinction, nor greater joy, than that we should be made one 
 nature and one inheritance with the Lord Christ. The twain 
 which God has joined together, and which no power to 
 eternity can put asunder, are His only begotten Son and His 
 human race. The Alpha embraces the Omega of lapsed being, 
 and the Omega is taken up into the original unity of the 
 Eternal life. This marriage, which He has made for His Son, 
 Matt, xvi, constitutes the chief Corner-Stone of His whole House. It is 
 Rom^viii ^^ Rock- Kingdom against which no power shall ever be able 
 38. 39- to prevail. Less truly and less deeply has the life of our 
 
 parents, or the spirit of nature, entered into us, than the spirit 
 of life from the Son of God. Only secondarily is Adam our 
 head. Our relation to him is comparatively recent and 
 shallow. First and last and unchangeably, the Lord from 
 Heaven is our Head. Adam and his fall can be, and shall be 
 supplanted in us ; but Jesus shall reign in us for ever, and of 
 His kingdom there shall be no end. With what inward 
 exultation Paul must have written this sentence : God has 
 raised us up togeihe?^, and enthroned tis together hi the Heaven- 
 lies in Christ Jesiis. In spite of his chain, he knew that a 
 life was raised up in his spirit, which was at one with his 
 Lord in Heaven. We also, in spite of our bonds and in- 
 firmities, have the like blessed consciousness of unity with 
 Him. He is with us, we are with Him. If we are where our 
 bodily presence is, surely where the deepest life of our spirit is, 
 we are much more. 
 Our human Our humau hope is sure and steadfast, our joy is beyond 
 
 j"^' all bounds ; God hath quickened us together with Christ. 
 
 Because He lives we shall live also. Between us and that 
 heavenly region, where Christ has His throne, the way is open 
 to us. He has removed every bar. Having gone up from 
 death, in the Eternal youth of His, and our, new humanity, it 
 is impossible that our expectations should be too great. If 
 the Son of God has joined His nature to ours, and ours to 
 His, we must come to something higher and more wonderful, 
 than we have at present the power to conceive. " Father, I 
 
Our Motmtain-City. 6i 
 
 will that they be with Me where I am." This is surely enough 
 to feed our expectation with wonder, at what we shall be. 
 His Spirit is even now in our spirit, the work of our trans- 
 formation is going on, and in The Great Father's decreed 
 plan, we are sitting in our own places in Christ Jesus. 
 According to an order which was in Him before the world 
 was, is the order which we shall occupy before God in our 
 home-kingdom for ever. He has brought the race for whom 
 He died into closest fellowship with the infinite and endless 
 resources of His Father. Thus has He filled to the full our 
 immortal joy. And this was His object in making Him- 
 self one with us. " These things have I spoken unto you that 
 My joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be 
 full." The beloved disciple testifies from his own experience, Johnxv. n. 
 that this fulness of human joy is to be found in " fellowship 
 with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." If we are i Jon. 1.3- 
 brought into strict and intimate relationship with the source of 
 all life and glory in the Father, our prospects for eternity are 
 not only grand, beyond thought, but no limits can be assigned 
 to the development of our powers, nor to the field of our 
 service. Had we the love of all creatures, unless the Love of 
 God were the secret spring and life thereof, it would be but a 
 passing vanity. Unless it be rooted in God, love is but as a 
 flower divided from its roots. But if we are in Christ and 
 Christ in us, we shall live in the midst of loving ones for ever. 
 And such is the magnitude of the universe, and the multitude 
 of the heavenly mansions, that in all probability we shall be 
 finding and making new friends throughout all ages. This 
 will be one of the most exhilarating joys of our eternity. For 
 as our own powers unfold, and our wisdom and love become 
 richer and more manifold, we shall find access to the higher 
 worlds, and orders, of the Great Father's household. We are 
 exhorted even now to ascend in thought and imagination to 
 the land of promise, and walk about our Mount Z ion which rises ^^^^ ^^^^^^^.^ 
 in the very midst, towering above all the heavenly hills. It is city central to 
 the hill of God's special desire. "The Lord hath chosen aiuhe_^^^ 
 Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest .nansions. 
 
62 Angels and men, their mutual affections. 
 
 for ever: Here will I dwell." (Psa. cxxxii. 13, 14.) "Go 
 round about her," saith the Spirit, " count her towers," if you 
 are able, " mark well her bulwarks." All her environs are 
 defended by the fire of God's glory which breaketh out from 
 her. " Out of Zion, the perfection of Beauty," God shines 
 gloriously. None can come near unto her, who are not like 
 her, " partakers of Christ," and at one with the strong powers 
 of God. The powers of His purity which dwell in all the 
 inhabitants of Mount Zion, are awful powers to impure souls. 
 Adverse powers are said to assemble, to look, to marvel, and 
 then to be troubled, dismayed, and haste away. '' God is 
 known in her palaces for a refuge," " Consider her palaces," 
 and talk to your own heart of the myriads who are waiting to 
 welcome you; and return from your excursion of faith, to hold 
 more vividly in your thoughts, and more deeply in your love, 
 your beautiful, your eternal home. Muse on your awaking, 
 and rejoice in expectation of the love which will be poured 
 around you from innumerable hearts. Doubt, anxiety, fear, will 
 be impossible. To die impossible. Words expressive of the 
 experience of every child of God in Heaven are already given 
 to us ; "Thou hast made me most blessed for ever ;" "Thou hast 
 made me exceeding glad with thy countenance !" The atmo- 
 sphere of our home will be bliss. And our home on all 
 sides will lie open to the countless home-kingdoms of our 
 angel-friends. 
 Angels and Knowing that we were once " children of wrath," and dead 
 
 muuiai'affec- '^"^ sius, it is natural to suppose that all the holy angels will 
 tions. regard us with a very tender interest. 
 
 And, remembering the rock whence we were hewn, and the 
 hole of the pit whence we were dieeed, our love to God, and 
 to His holy ones, who never at any time transgressed His 
 commandment, will be the humblest and most pathetic thing in 
 Heaven. The passion of our Saviour's Love will vibrate 
 through us, and marvellously affect the ancient and unfallen 
 powers of Eternity. Our sins and our sorrows, our darkness 
 and our fears, and, in all, and through all, the love of God, are 
 awakening, and creating sensibilities in us, which will give to 
 
JVe and otir Holy Dead, one Comfuunion in Christ. 63 
 
 our sphere, our aspect, and the tone of our songs, a charm 
 which the angels will recognise as the fruit of the great soul- 
 travail of Jesus. 
 
 Our holy dead are sitting in the heavenlies, in the precise We and our 
 condition and circumstances that they wish to be. By faith ^^'^ ^^^^^ ^^^ 
 and love we are sitting together with them. Though absent ion in Christ. 
 in the flesh, our home should be present to our spirit. What 
 dearer subject can we muse upon, than our own entrance into 
 our Father's house, the home of our forefathers, and our un- 
 known kindred ? To die, is to break our way through unto 
 them, and thus to realise the dear unity which we have with 
 them in the heavenly life. There are very tender reasons why 
 our stay on earth should be brief. Not only are the limits and 
 conditions of mortal life an unceasingly painful cross to the 
 renewed soul ; but a reunion with our friends, in their heavenly 
 home, is the fulfilment of their hope and ours. To awake and 
 find ourselves among them, will be the first of the new series of 
 appeasements, which our Heavenly Father holds in store for us. 
 To perfect the home-life of His children, is essential to the 
 satisfaction of His own Fatherly Love. The disciples sittmg 
 round about Jesus, on the grassy slope of the mountain, walk- 
 ing side by side with Him on the sea-shore, or through the 
 corn-fields, resting with Him at the evening meal in Bethany- 
 contentment, while He stored their minds with His wisdom, and 
 pacified their hearts with His love ; these are humble fore- 
 shadowings of our eternal home-life in Christ Jesus. The 
 Great Father has quickened us together, and made us one 
 family-kingdom with His Son. " The Great Love wherewith 
 He loved us" could do no less, and it could do no more. 
 
 When sitting together with our friends and kindred in 
 Christ, let us use the privilege of our faith, and picture them 
 to ourselves, not as earthy and corruptible, but as they will 
 shortly be, fair immortals, made like unto the Son of God. 
 With such a family-hope, partings and bereavements are bear- 
 able. Earth could not satisfy our hearts, but our Father, and 
 our Father's House will. In the end also the earth will be re- 
 newed, and made to correspond with the purity and glory of 
 
64 The Study for the Ages to Come. 
 
 our new nature in Christ. Heaven and earth are our hope, 
 not as twain, but as one perfect, harmonious inheritance. The 
 heavenly human home that has grown about Christ, will, in 
 God's own time, descend, and take the whole earth within the 
 sphere of her Divine Light; and Jesus and the saints shall 
 possess the world. Short of this, there can be no resting place 
 for the ever deepening sympathy and growing unity of the 
 Lu. xix. 12. two homes. " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
 Matt. V. 5. earth." Our King is gone "to receive for Himself a kingdom 
 and to rehtrny The new song sung in Heaven, by "every 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation," concludes thus : 
 " and lae shall reign on the Earth!' 
 The study for In His work of redemption, which is to be the reconciliation 
 ^'^m?^^ *° of all things in heaven and all things on earth, God is prepar- 
 ing a spectacle, and a study, for the ages to come. "He hath 
 Eph. 1. 10 quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up toge- 
 Coi. 11. 20. \}^^x, and made us sit together in the Heavenlies, in Christ 
 Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding 
 riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ 
 Jesus." No angel in heaven foresees, or can foresee, what this 
 spectacle will be. The Father has in Himself hidden reserves 
 of power and glory, which will not be manifested until all the 
 nations and generations of the saved come before Him in their 
 unity. "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons 
 Actsi. 7. which the Father hath put in His own power." The kingdom 
 of the Incarnation being the purpose, which He purposed in 
 Himself, as the end and perfection of His creation, we may 
 safely conclude, that there is more in store for the ages to come 
 than heaven or earth is able to comprehend. God's plan must 
 be wrought out to be known. It is greater, richer, and more 
 Eph. iii. 20. blessed, than thought or imagination will ever conjecture. 
 
Division from the Beginning. 65 
 
 Chap. ii. 8-10. — For by grace are ye saved througJi 
 faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God. 
 9 Not of zvorks, lest any man sJionld boast, i o For ive 
 are His workmansJiip, created in CJirist Jesits unto good 
 ivorks, zuJiicJi God before prepared that zve should ivalk in 
 them. 
 
 The first two brothers, as we read, were far enough from Division from 
 being true brothers. They came of the same parents, but in ''^^ beginning, 
 spirit, taste, and the plan of their hfe, they were not kindred. 
 Interiorly, there was not only no relation between them, there 
 was strong antipathy. They were deeply divided in the spirit 
 and character of their religious life ; and from that day to this, 
 two keenly antipathetic religious tendencies have continued 
 side by side in the world. There is a religion of the earth, 
 earthly, which strongly commends itself to man's fleshly 
 reason ; and there is a heavenly religion, which the earthly 
 religion always resists, scorns, and crucifies. The one is a 
 direct gifl and wo^'-k of God ; the other is wholly a birth of the 
 natural mind and will of man. They may both go by the 
 * name of Christianity ; but in the one, you will find this world's 
 spirit, this world's maxims, and this world's desires; in the 
 other you will find supernatural principles, hopes and affections. 
 The centre of the one is the wisdom of this world, the centre 
 of the other is Jesus Christ. The spurious thing puts on airs 
 and stands up for itself; the other knows its birth-right too 
 well, and has too much' heart-rest, to be mindful how it is 
 esteemed in the world. The spurious thing, corresponding as 
 it does, with man's natural mind and taste, never lacks advo- 
 cates. Our Lord does not say, that the children of this world 
 are wiser than the children of light ; but He does say, 
 that " the children of this world in their gejieratiou are wiser 
 than the children of light." For the children of this world, are 
 in their own sphere ; but the children of light are in a foreign 
 and inharmonious sphere. The worldly form of Christianity is 
 
66 The Floods of Matt. vii. 27. 
 
 at home here. The Divine form of Christianity is the kingdom 
 of Heaven, and is far from its native country here. Christianity 
 which is not of this world, but of God and heaven, is unpalat- 
 able to the heart, and a positive offence to the reason of the 
 natural man. Worldly or natural religion commends itself to 
 men as they are ; but Divine religion, or true Christianity, 
 requires men to be new creatures, and can only be commended 
 of her own Heaven-born children. 
 The floods of We cannot be sorry for the rude floods that are coming, 
 Matt. vn. 27. ^^^ ^i^g winds that are blowing, and beating against the house 
 of our Christianity. What the winds and floods carry away 
 will be no real loss to Christianity, or to any true disciple. Vital 
 Christianity has been benefitted by every test which she has 
 undergone, and is incapable of loss. The winds winnow her, 
 and take nothing away but chaff The floods settle her on 
 her own immoveable foundations. 
 
 Christendom may be comprehended under four heads : 
 
 1. The ritualism of the senses. Rome and her Anglican 
 daughter are here. We must go forth from this imposing 
 camp, bearing our reproach. They have embalmed Christianity, 
 and given to her the solemnity of a mummy. She lives no 
 more, grows no more. They have clothed her with a gorgeous 
 robe, and bow to their idol. 
 
 2. The rittialism of the understanding. Multitudes of 
 Protestants rank under this head. They abhor the popery 
 of vestments, lights, and incense, but they idolize words 
 and doctrinal formulas. The ritualism of the brain is as 
 distinct from Vital Christianity, as the ritualism of the senses. 
 
 3. Then there is the multitudinous Antichrist, with a bold 
 and confident tread, whose scriptures are physical nature and 
 her laws, whose god is force, and whose light is their own 
 nature-illuminated intellect. 
 
 4. Very distinct from all these are a fourth class, who main- 
 tain that nothing avails but the new nature. " Christ in them," 
 expresses their faith, their life, and their hope. Christ in man, 
 being Divine Life in the soul, admits of new growth, ne\\ 
 wisdom, new beauty, and new conquests for evermore. 
 
Salvation, of God, throttgh Faith. 67 
 
 If we drew out, in order, the teaching of these verses, 
 it would perhaps fall into something like the following 
 statements. 
 
 That an affection in the Divine Nature is the primary 
 cause of human salvation : ''By Grace ye are saved." 
 
 This affection of God is apprehended by the creature's 
 faith. " By grace ye are saved through faiths 
 
 Though the creature's faith is His own, by the free con- 
 sent and voluntary exercise of his own heart and mind, never- 
 theless, in its principle and operation, it is the work of God : 
 " not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God!' 
 
 Man's salvation, instead of consisting in a single act of 
 God, is His most patient work: ''For we are His workman- 
 ship r 
 
 With respect to our new nature, which is the work of 
 God, Jesus Christ is our father Adam : " We are His work- 
 manship, created in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This new nature gives evidence of itself by a corre- 
 sponding excellence of character : " We are created in Christ 
 Jesus unto good works." 
 
 These good works are adequately provided for by a 
 pre-arranged plan of God, and by the nourishment of our new 
 nature in His Son; "Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
 which God before prepared that we should ivalk in them.'' 
 
 We must consent to it with our whole heart, that our salva- Salvation, of 
 tion from first to last, is of God and by God. Drawn by Him, f^°^ '^"^""^^ 
 we must yield, and come, as of our own accord, into a consent- 
 ing, loving relationship with Him in Christ; that by the work- 
 mg of God's self-prompted grace, through our co-operating 
 faith, we may be saved. The meekness of faith is our response 
 to the gentle motion of the Divine Spirit in our will. In 
 no single God-ward or heaven-ward step is man self- 
 moved, but in consenting to be drawn, it is as truly and pro- 
 perly his own act, as any act of sin ever was. It is indeed 
 rnuch more truly his act ; for no act of sin ever obtains the 
 like depth and fulness of human consent, which faith in Christ 
 does. There is a very miracle of gentleness and sweetness in 
 
68 The Fruit of the New Nature. 
 
 the unity of God and the creature, in the work of salvation. 
 As from their dark bed and root, without will, flowers are 
 drawn forth to behold their sun, even so, with his consenting will, 
 man's nobler spirit is drawn to his sun. Sunbeams are a gift 
 to the dark root ; germination is its own motion ; so the prin- 
 ciple of " faith is the gift of God," while the act of faith is the 
 co-operation of man. 
 The deep foun- How meek and lowly at heart is our God, and what a pre- 
 mlnfretd'om. cious joy it is, that God with man, and man with God, are 
 thus joined and at one, in the act and work of faith ! And how 
 deeply founded and joyous is the freedom of the redeemed, 
 since the whole work of their regeneration is wrought by the 
 Spirit, in unity with their own desire. The will of God in 
 them, becomes the perfect law of their own liberty. The con- 
 senting activity of their own will in harmony with God's pur- 
 pose, gives them at once a deep, fearless play of their own 
 powers, and complete rest in God. When the kingly nature 
 of Christ is formed in us, with what self-possessed dignity all 
 our works will be done ! 
 
 Observe, that the same passage of Scripture which teaches us 
 that salvation is " not of works," declares that it is " unto good 
 works." God puts no trust either in our conscience or affec- 
 tions ; He creates tcs tmto good works. The seed principles and 
 adequate causes of all the "good works" of God's children, 
 were provided for in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the 
 world. In His Only-begotten Son, the scheme of creation was 
 always before God, as one perfect and orderly whole. If, there- 
 fore, fallen creatures are ever to regain their completeness, it is 
 clear that they can only be "complete in Him." The last 
 developments will be but the fulfilment of first causes. The 
 " good works " which men shall bring forth to eternity, were 
 Thefruitofthe prepared for, before man or angel fell. In " the True Vine," 
 new nature. ^ ^^^ branches and their fruit were secured, and from Him, 
 iios. xiv. 8. they will appear in their season, " From Me is thy fruit 
 found." The fruit-bearing seasons of His children are hid in 
 the Father's power. 
 
 It should never be lost sight of, that our salvation is a new 
 
Re-made by God in Christ Jesus. 69 
 
 creation. We shall ultimately have a nature, to obey the 
 
 impulses of which will be to obey God. At present, in order 
 
 to please Christ, we have often to walk contrary to the motions 
 
 and leadings of our own nature. Herein is our most serious 
 
 cross, that our chief difficulty, our easily besetting sin, is a 
 
 nature and a life in our own souls. God is deliverino- us, and 
 
 will deliver us, from this sore cross. Our whole nature will be 
 
 perfecdy congenial, both with itself and with God. Before we 
 
 leave the world, we shall discover that God has already made 
 
 a closer, stronger relation between us and His Son, than ever 
 
 was made between us and our mortal bodies. The union 
 
 between the Son of God and the inner man is so congenial, so 
 
 precious, that all believers, at length, prefer to leave the outer 
 
 man, that they may go to Christ. Hope deserts the union 
 
 between man and his mortal body ; while the hope, springing 
 
 from the union between man and Christ, becomes more and 
 
 more ardent. ^ One of the blessed rewards of union with 
 
 Christ is that it deprives death of its gloom, makes it positively 
 
 desirable. " We groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon 
 
 with our house (our new nature) which is from heaven." 
 
 " We are willing rather to be absent from the body, (the body 
 
 of this death,) and to be present with the Lord." " For me to 2 Cor. v. 1-8. 
 
 live is Christ, and to die is gain." "To depart, and to be 
 
 with Christ is far better." Phi), i, 21, 23. 
 
 " Now He that hath wrought us (made and prepared us) for 2 Cor. v. 5. 
 the selfsame thing is God." He has created us anew in Him, Re-made by 
 by Whom He created all things at the very first. In the £°uV"*^''"^^ 
 beginning, before the world was, and before Satan departed 
 from the truth, and therefore before disorder began, all things 
 stood in His Son. He being "the image of the Invisible 
 God," was necessarily " the First-born of every creature," and 
 the only Medium of the Creative Power. 
 
 To help your appreciation of what it is to be " created in 
 Christ JestLs',' consider deeply the following orderly series, as 
 set down by this apostle : 
 
 "He is the Image of the Invisible God." 
 
 " The First-born of every creature." 
 
yo Re-made by God in Christ yestis. 
 
 *' In Him (Jvairw) were all things created, that are in 
 
 heaven, and that are in earth," &c., &c. 
 " All things were created (3/ ahro'^ by Him, and (e/; omtIv) 
 
 for Him." 
 "He is before all things." 
 " By Him all things stood together." 
 " And He " (Who was the Proto-type and Maker of all 
 
 things) " is the Head of the Body, the Church :" 
 Who is the beginning, "the Firstborn from the dead :" 
 "That," as, "in all things" created, He had the pre- 
 eminence, "He might," also "have the pre-eminence," 
 in the redeemed creation. 
 "It pleased the Father that in Him all Fulness should 
 dwell." 
 Col. i. 15, 19. " In Him dwelleth all the Fulness of the Godhead 
 
 "•9 bodily." 
 
 To be " created in Christ Jesus," therefore, is to be created in 
 tune with all thinofs, both the thino^s of the origfinal and un- 
 fallen, and of the fallen and redeemed creation. If thou art 
 created in Christ Jesus, though a creature, and as it were, a 
 very small seed, thou containest the wonders of God. Thou 
 knowest, and wilt yet know more painfully, what it is to be 
 created in fallen nature unto vanity, labour, sorrow, and death; 
 but rejoice and be exceeding glad that thou also knowest, and 
 wilt know more and more, what it is to be "created in Christ 
 Jesus," unto Truth, and Beauty, Unsearchable Riches and 
 Rest, Glory, and Endless Life. 
 
 In thy new creation how near and dear thou must be to 
 the heart of God ! Thou hast come into the nearness and 
 dearness to the Father, of His Christ. 
 
The Unity of Men, Older than their Division. 71 
 
 Chap. ii. 11-13. — Wherefore remember, tJiat ye being 
 in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called (scorn- 
 fully) Ujicircnmcision, by tJie (party) called Circumcision, 
 — the hajid performed Circumcision in tJieflcsJi. 1 2 That 
 at that time ye were ivithout Christ, being aliens from the 
 commomvealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants 
 of promise, having no hope, and zvitJiout God (Atheists) 
 in the zvorld .•13 Bttt now, in Christ Jesus, ye zvJio once 
 were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
 
 This Apostle sets no value on the distinction between cir- circumcision 
 cumcision and uncircumcision. He says to the Jew: Your '^'^"^^'"S' 
 circumcision is only a hand-wrought, external performance. 
 It is simply "in the flesh." It involves no change in the 
 spirit, or character, of the man. By the repetition of the word 
 " called," Paul expresses his contempt for the distinction. He 
 virtually says : The Jews are just as far from the knowledge 
 of the true circumcision, as the Gentiles. " Circumcision is 
 nothing, and Uncircumcision is nothing." He goes even i cor. vii. 19. 
 farther : " He is not a Jew who is one outwardly ; neither is 
 that circumcision which is outward in the flesh : but he is a 
 Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the 
 heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." Circumcision was Rom. ii. 28, 
 therefore only a sign, looking forward to Christ, and regenera- ^'^' 
 tion through Him. — " In Whom ye are circumcised, with the 
 circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of 
 the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." Christ's coi. ii. n. 
 New Humanity is the only circumcised Humanity before God. 
 
 Jew and Gentile are not essentially divided. They were The unity of 
 one people, before they were divided. By little and little, the [Jan their 
 Gentiles lost even the form of sound words, and gave them- division. 
 selves up to a line of things utterly foreign to the mind and 
 nature of God. " Living oracles " were confided to the Jews, 
 and "shadows of good things to come"; while the Gentiles 
 walked in the vanity of their own minds. Through the Jews, 
 Christ came. " Salvation is of the Jews." We are hereby 
 
72 Christ and Flesh, the Contrast. 
 
 solemnly warned, that a people may have "the covenants of 
 promise," and themselves not enter into the promise ; that 
 salvation may go forth through them, and they not be saved. 
 
 The ceremonial nearness of the Jew to God, became a 
 snare to him. It was rather a vain conceit, than an actual ex- 
 perience. It puffed him up, and did not make him Godlike. 
 In the end, his affectation of nearness wrought a greater re- 
 moteness. When God manifested Himself in the person of 
 Jesus, there were no people on the earth less able to recognise 
 Him. " He came to His own, but His own received Him 
 not." From that hour the Jew fell into the background, and 
 the Gentiles came to the front. Their orreater remoteness 
 ended in greater nearness. That which is first often carries 
 within it that which is last, and that which is last as often em- 
 bodies that which is first. Therefore, let us judge nothing 
 before the time. Jew and Gentile, for ages before their divi- 
 sion, were one human nature, and they are destined to return 
 again into unity, in Christ Jesus. " There is neither Jew, nor 
 Gal. iii. 28. Greek, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." 
 Christ and CliHst is our Only Royal Blood. To be in Him is to be in 
 
 contras?^ the First and the Last, in the beginning and the end, of the 
 whole purpose and creation of God. To be in the flesh is to 
 be in what cannot hold together. The flesh and vanity make 
 one; Christ and Hope make one. To be in the flesh, therefore, 
 is to be " without hope ; " but to be in Christ is to " abound in 
 hope." To suppose that there can be hope for any creature 
 without Him, is to be wholly ignorant of Him. No one has 
 any true knowledge of the Son of God, who does not perceive 
 Him to be the Hold-fast and Integrity, the Life and Light of 
 every creature. " Without Me ye can do nothing." " Without 
 Me," you are but " flesh," a mere failing, fading, impossible 
 existence. The most striking and complete of all possible 
 contrasts is that between man in the flesh, and man in Christ. 
 Man in the flesh asserts himself, and does everything in his 
 power to defend himself from breaking up, but he perishes in 
 the attempt. Man in Christ, without effort, endures for ever. 
 The glory of man in the flesh, is as the flower of the field. 
 
Christ and Flesh, the Contrast. 73 
 
 Man, in the flesh, comes forth as if he had hope, but he swiftly 
 ghdes past his noon, and the inevitable evening comes on, and 
 with evening, decay. God permits the effort of the flesh to 
 run on for ages, that its vanity and the futility of its working, 
 may be more abundantly shown. Flesh is that which is, 
 and yet is not. No one can be in the flesh who has not 
 ceased to be homogeneal with God, and with all incor- 
 ruptible creatures; and so long as he walks in it, he walks 
 "in a vain show." " They that are in the flesh cannot please 
 God." Every spirit, therefore, in the flesh, who lives " after 
 the flesh shall die." Carnality of soul is death. Every spirit Rom.viii.6. 
 that hath Christ hath eternal life. Christ then is our word for 
 True Substance ; and Flesh is our word for vain, impractic- 
 able substance. Christ is wholeness, harmony, truth ; Flesh 
 is deficiency, discord, and illusion. The flesh has only to do 
 with shadows. That awakened sensibility of the soul, called 
 faith, which transcends all shadows, and comes face to face with 
 reality, is utterly beyond the power of the flesh, and incom- 
 prehensible to the natural man. The Incarnation is God's - 
 method of making faith easy to man in the flesh. 
 
 Christ is God in His descent, making Himself one with us 
 in our fall, in order to recover us from our fall. Christ is God 
 coming near enough to us, and in a sufficiently palpable and 
 apprehensible form, to allure us to seek after our exceeding 
 great and eternal reward, in Himself If Christ be the 
 revelation of the Pure, Eternal Substance, He must be Man's 
 Supreme Good. Enoch knew this secret. Abraham knew it. 
 " I am thy exceeding great reward." Moses knew, the 
 prophets knew, that God Himself is man's crown of glory. 
 
 To be " in the flesh," therefore, and not " in Christ," is 
 literally to be destitute of all reality and hope. But the God 
 of this world flatters men, and they like to be flattered, that 
 they can be in God, and have hope, although they are not in 
 Christ. But Paul's order will be found sooner or later to be 
 inexorably sequential : 
 
 Without Christ. 
 
 Without Hope. 
 
 Without God. 
 
74 *' Made nigh " in a New Blood. 
 
 Nature finds no way of escape for herself out of the vain 
 life. How then should the nature-spirit put man into the way 
 of life ? Make the forces and laws of nature your god, as 
 thousands do, and your days of sunshine are numbered. 
 Your force-god will decompose you, and finding neither 
 ground under you, nor light about you, Heaven's logic and 
 Paul's will occur to you, " without Christ," " without Hope," 
 "without God." It is a source of malicious joy to the god of 
 this world, to see men who have neither the love nor the 
 knowledge of God in them, never doubting their own 
 faith in the Being of God. Satan's scope of action is the sphere 
 of visible things; and men may be subtle and profound 
 students of these things, and yet be utterly " without God in 
 the world." They may walk in the enthusiasm of delusion 
 and be "without hope." They may be held captive by the 
 universe, and no thought, or affection, of their spirit, be ever 
 projected into the sphere of God's being. Like silly insects 
 which cannot believe that light is their snare and the gate of 
 destruction, so do men glory in their course of death. Be 
 instructed now, ye kings and master-spirits of the earth, for 
 though you believe it not, the day will come that will compel 
 you to recognise the fact, that every spirit of whom Christ is 
 not the Life and the Light, is not only " without God," but 
 in direct antagonism against Him. 
 "Made nigh" The oue Gospel of God to the whole world, is that dark and 
 in anew blood, (distant Spirits can not only be brought nigh, but "made nigh 
 in the blood of Christ',' as grafts are not simply brought nigh, 
 but "made nigh" to the tree, from which they are to derive 
 their life. The graft is " made nigh," taken up into unity with 
 the tree, by the life-blood of the tree. Man is "made nigh," 
 taken up into unity with God by receiving the life-blood 
 of Jesus into his spirit. As the sun gives out of himself 
 to the earth, and thus brings the earth into fellowship with 
 himself, so Christ gives out of Himself to the human soul and 
 makes man one with God. Though sitting in the border-lands 
 of the outer darkness, though the shadow of the great death be 
 already fallen upon you, the life of Christ will deliver you from 
 
Every Blood Makes its Own Nature. 75 
 
 the vain life, and His truth, from the logic of the god of this 
 world. Multitudes whose will and reason were held in the 
 flattering meshes of the flesh-and-nature-spirit, have been deliv- 
 ered. There can be no greater work, or wonder, than the 
 deliverance of souls from their own life. In their own blood, 
 they were *' far off" from God, and could not be brought nigh. 
 They have therefore repudiated their own, in favour of Christ's 
 blood. Their soul was flesh, (" carnal, sold under sin,") their 
 glory was vanity, their hope was illusion, their whole world 
 was a vanishing shadow, and they were tenaciously holding 
 that which held them ; but they have relinquished all, for a new 
 life, a new hope, a new world, in Christ Jesus. By shedding 
 His blood, Christ has taught us for ever, that in nature's blood 
 there is no salvation. By shedding His blood. He opened the 
 way of release; and by giving to us the blood of His New 
 Humanity, He makes the loss of our life to be the way of life. 
 "He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." The way 
 is mysterious. It is the salvation of one's life, by the loss of 
 his life. The blood of Christ is clearly susceptible of two very 
 distinct apprehensions, corresponding with the distinction be- 
 tween the humanity that lived and died on earth, and the 
 Humanity which now lives in Heaven and can die no more. 
 As the children were partakers of a strange blood, (a blood 
 which most effectually cuts us off from the kingdom of True 
 Life,) "He likewise took part of the same," that He might 
 once for all, sacrifice it, and take the bar away. By His blood- 
 shedding, the bar is for ever removed ; and in virtue of His 
 New Life, He is become the first fruits unto God of the new 
 human race. In His Divine Blood He is "made nigh," and 
 in no other can we be " made nieh." 
 
 Every blood makes its own nature. Paul prays that we may Every blood 
 be made perfect, and well-pleasing in the sight of God, not in "^^^[^^1''^ °*^" 
 the blood which brought the great shepherd of the sheep under 
 the curse, and into death ; but "in the blood of the everlasting 
 covenant," in which He was brought from the dead, into the 
 Glory of the Father. And if we are ever to be pure, glorious, 
 
tilings in the 
 Blood of 
 Christ. 
 
 76 The Unity of All Things in the Blood of Christ. 
 
 and immortal creatures, it can only be in the Life, or through 
 the Blood, of the pure, glorious, and immortal Son of God. 
 Our Lord therefore not only declared a deep truth, but re- 
 vealed a precious law, when He taught that no man can be a 
 member of His kingdom, or inherit eternal life, except by 
 hating his own life, and deriving a new life from Him. When 
 we understand this exchange, instead of regarding it as a 
 gloomy truth, it will give us the purest joy. The necessity 
 for exchanging our blood for His Blood, our spirit of life, 
 for His Spirit of Life, is our most sacred privilege. What 
 we call the Lord's Supper, is His monumental testimony for 
 all time, that every one of His disciples must derive currents of 
 life from His Divine Humanity, in order to the growth of the 
 
 Theunityofaii new nature. As in the blood of every creature, all the ele- 
 ments and powers of its life are present ; in like manner, " the 
 Blood of Christ" expresses in one word a,ll the virtues and 
 powers of His Divine and Human Nature. The blood which 
 made, and is constantly reproducing this mortal body, is a fluid 
 prepared from the whole of visible nature. But the Blood of 
 Christ from which our new nature is derived, and by which it 
 is fed, is the unity of all invisible and eternal powers. The 
 blood of nature gives us a nature and standing in the world : 
 the Blood of Christ gives us a nature and standing before 
 God. 
 
 Consider well the two bloods, and receive instruction. 
 How "far off" you are from God, in the spirit and blood of 
 your own nature, you should learn from the horror and 
 darkness of Christ, which He suffered by coming into your lot, 
 and enduring your condition. On the other hand, in the per- 
 fect harmony between God and the New Humanity of Jesus 
 glorified, learn how " nigh " you are made to God, by the 
 Blood of Christ. In Him, our nature is one with God, and 
 His blood makes us partakers of His oneness. Wherefore, 
 " We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we 
 have now received the Atonement." Beinof born aeain of His 
 
 Rom V. 4. Licorruptible Substance, as new-born babes, let us desire the 
 
 I i ctcr 1. Q-X* , . 
 
 I Peter iii. 2. sincerc milk thereof, that we may grow thereby. 
 
The Great Peace, and How Made. 77 
 
 Chap. II. i\-\'^.—For He is onr Peace, WJio hath 
 made both one, and hath broken doivn tJie middle wall of 
 partition; 15 Having abolished, in His jlesJi, the eiiviity, 
 the lazv of eomuiandments in ordinances ; (the law of 
 ceremonial observances ;) for to make in Himself of 
 tzvain One Neiv Man, so making Peace; 1 6 A nd that He 
 might reconcile both unto God, in One Body, by the Cross, 
 having slain the enmity in Himself ("in His flesh," see 
 1 5 th ver.) \ i"] A nd came ajid preached Peace to you ivhich 
 tvere far off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For 
 through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the 
 Father. 
 
 It was something very great which was made by the blood- The great 
 shedding of Jesus Christ ; but something which is hard to be Jo^'^J^adlf 
 spoken, seeing that men are dull of hearing and slow of faith. 
 Paul says, He has made Peace through the blood of His Cross, 
 not a partial peace, but a peace which will grow and prevail 
 until all things in earth, and all things in heaven are one king- 
 dom of Peace. Col. i. 20. The central and efficient beofinninof 
 of the great end, is made and established. It is a great power, 
 and shall reign until the poeans of the last harmony shall 
 resound from end to end of the universe. The humanity 
 with which God could not be at one, is for ever put atvay in the 
 death of Christ. Old humanity is gone. But the humanity 
 which was slain on the Cross, was one flesh with the earth and 
 the heavens as they now are. In the death of Christ, therefore, 
 the present constitution of things has received notice of its 
 great change, the final transmutation, for which it groans and 
 waits. Further, in the death of Christ, the distinction between 
 Jewish and Gentile flesh is slain. To say that Jews and 
 Gentiles are made one, is the same as saying that all men are 
 made one. Gentiles are all who are not Jews. If Jew and 
 Gentile repudiate their own peculiar nature, in favour of New 
 Human-Nature, in Christ, they immediately enter into ever- 
 lasting relationship and peace with each other. The flesh 
 
78 The Great Peace, and How Made. 
 
 which our Lord put to an open shame, naUing it to the Cross, 
 was Jewish flesh, circumcised flesh : the enmity, therefore, aris- 
 ing from any distinction between flesh and flesh, is slain. The 
 wall of partition between Jew and Gentile is wholly removed. 
 Not a trace of this kind of flesh, or the other, remains in the 
 One New Man. Jewish flesh and Gentile flesh stand on the 
 same ground before God. Flesh has passed away. "If One 
 died for all, then all died',' 2 Cor. v. 14. Both Jew and 
 Gentile must look upon Christ crucified, and see God's final 
 rejection of their nature. Both of them must look upon 
 Christ glorified, and see their acceptance with God, and their 
 unity with each other. The Jew looking upon his flesh in 
 Christ, as a thing " without the camp," disowned of God, 
 mocked, whipped, and crucified, must resign every thought and 
 feeling of the pre-eminence of his nature. And the Gentile, 
 seeing the best flesh that ever lived, given over by God to 
 every indignity, and to death in its most shameful form, must 
 despair of the possibility of making his first nature acceptable 
 to God. By the pre-determined counsel and plan of God, 
 His Son came in the flesh, expressly that He might abase and 
 destroy it. " They shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, 
 Markx. 34. and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him." " Shall I say, 
 johnxii. 27. Father, save Me from this hour?" "How then shall the 
 Matt, xxvi.54. Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it imist be f " " But foT- this 
 cause came I unto this hour." Before our nature can be restored 
 to its true and eternal form, the rejected form thereof must be 
 put to death ; and it must be put to death in a way which 
 shall for ever teach how utterly it is rejected of God. " Destroy 
 this temple, and I will raise it" (in its new form) "in three days." 
 For the way into the Holiest could not be made manifest 
 while as yet the first tabernacle of His body was standing. 
 He put away the first by crucifixion, that He might raise up 
 and establish the second. " By which will we are sanctified, 
 iicb. x. 10. through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once." Our 
 first nature could not stand before God, it was therefore put 
 away; but our second nature, of which Jesus is the first fruits, 
 has " entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence 
 
Not a New Nationality, but New Humanity 79 
 
 of God for us." Our peace is made. Our cloudless, eternal, Heb. ix. 24. 
 human good is an accomplished fact. "He is our peace." 
 The whole unbroken life of God, the whole seven-fold 
 harmony of the Divine Nature is in human nature. The 
 reconciliation of all heights and depths is one Peace, in Christ. 
 It is made in Him, that it may be made in men. John writes, 
 *' Peace be unto you from Him which is, and which was, and 
 which is to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before 
 His throne, and from Jesus Christ, (the embodiment of all,) the 
 Faithful Witness, the First Begotten of the dead, and the 
 Prince of the kings of the earth," Rev. i. 4, 5. How it raises 
 one's thoughts of the scope of God's purpose, in the Man 
 Christ Jesus, and through Him, towards all men, to find that 
 man's perfectness is so often directly referred to the Peace of 
 God, as its Source and Cause. "The very God of Peace 
 sanctify you wholly," &c., i Thes. v. 23. '' T\-\q peace of God 
 rule in your hearts," &c.. Col. iii. 15. " T/ie God of Peace" 
 . . . "make you perfect," &c., Heb. xiii. 20, 21. The peace 
 of God, in which all His powers and perfections constitute one 
 play of Life, play through you, and play you into a like 
 harmony of completeness, through Christ Jesus. 
 
 No nation can claim the New Humanity as peculiarly its Not a new 
 own. It has no national distinction. It is New Man. It is J^J'^Jew*^' 
 the race deriving a new beginning from God. Christ has re- Humanity, 
 conciled every distinction unto God, "in one body." By 
 making "in Himself One New Man," He has founded the 
 new order of things. The discrepancy, and all the enmity 
 between God and man, and between man and man, and between 
 the temporal and eternal form of the universe, are thus 
 abolished. The unity of all things is come before God. And 
 for that reason, and no other, the New Man is the reigning 
 Power by Whom God is making all things new. When Jews 
 and Gentiles, Asiatics and Europeans, rise superior to their 
 own divided humanity, and put on the New Man, they are one 
 blood, and one family, and members of the new creation. 
 Universal Peace and Brotherhood are now a certainty. The 
 storm has been long, but the great calm is coming. The 
 
8o By His Spirit, Christ Preaches His Own Peace. 
 
 Rev. xxi. 5, 
 xxii. 20. 
 
 By His Spirit, 
 Christ 
 
 preaches His 
 own Peace. 
 
 Atonement is perfect. Extremes are uniting. Heaven and 
 earth are stretching forth their arms to each other. The day 
 in which they will terminate their long estrangement, is near- 
 ing. " He that sat upon the throne, said, Behold I am making 
 all things new. And He said to me, Write! for these 
 words are true and faithful." " Even so. Come Lord Jesus." 
 
 Having abolished, by His death, all ground of variance 
 between man and man, between heaven and earth, and be- 
 tween all things and God ; and having presented to God the 
 reconciliation of all things, in One Body, He came in the 
 Power of His Spirit, and preached by His apostles, the de- 
 liverance of all nations from the limits and the tyranny of their 
 own nationality. He is the Preacher of the Peace which He 
 has made. The Peace of His New Humanity is mightier than 
 all the gates of Hell. It goeth forth from Himself, a secret 
 river of influence, a new Breath of Life, a Power and a Law, 
 making all things new, and all things according • to the unity 
 made in Himself. He is the Awakener of the new man in 
 men. Nature is strong, but Christ is stronger. " The weak- 
 ness of God is stronger than men." For Christ endures the 
 contradiction of men against Himself, that He may prevail 
 more sweetly at the last. Christ crucified, and Christ risen 
 again, are not only the Gospel, but are facts that are occurring 
 through all time. For if Christ be beaten down under their 
 feet, men grow weary of their success, until their own spirit 
 sinks, and Christ rises in them, as a sigh, as a tender pain, as 
 a meek root out of a dry ground, as a new branch from na- 
 ture's decaying stock. Thus oftentimes does Christ hide 
 Himself under defeat, that His power may secretly grow unto 
 victory. " Thine, O Lord, is the victory." There will yet be 
 wars and rumours of wars, bitter controversies, and the mad- 
 ness of unbelief, but through all, the Peace which Christ has 
 made, will come, and come. The Right Man must reign, be- 
 cause He is the Right Man, and "the Only Potentate." 
 Godhead and manhood being one in Him, His Peace is mighty 
 through God, and no stronohold can hold out ao^ainst His 
 long-suffering and patience. "He shall not fail nor be dis- 
 
Access to the Father, 8i 
 
 couraged till He have set judgment in the earth." He knows 
 Himself, and He knows men. He is sure that men will own 
 Him at the last. He knows that the only Nature in which 
 men will be able to rest, is the New Man which He has made 
 in Himself. In the end, men will come to Him, as their only 
 centre of repose. 
 
 Being brought into unity with the Son of God, we have Access to the 
 direct "access unto the Father." Through Him, by one f^^^^'^- 
 Spirit, all nations of men may come into communication with 
 the deepest ground of God. The Spirit of sonship which 
 Christ freely gives to all men, is their spirit of access. There 
 is nothing in the Divine Nature, which, in Christ Jesus is not 
 open to men. His Spirit in men, according to their ability, 
 may search into all things, yea even the deep things of God. 
 Jew and Gentile and men of every kindred and name, by One 
 Spirit, draw their supplies of wisdom and love, purity and 
 power, from the infinite fulness of God ; and in the same Spirit 
 have fellowship one with another. 
 
 Chap. ii. 19-22. — Now therefore ye are no more 
 strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the 
 saints, and of the household of God, 20 A nd are built 
 upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
 Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone ; 21 In 
 Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into 
 a holy temple in the Lord : 22 /// Whom ye also are 
 buildcd together for (a spiritual habitation of God.) A 
 habitation of God in Spirit. 
 
 We must be purer and nobler than ourselves, and much 
 wiser than nature can ever make us, before we shall have one 
 worthy thought of the city of our God. It has been growing 
 through all time. All true worth and glory are ever and ever 
 going into it. It is the final treasure-house of whatsoever has 
 become divinely good and perfect. Were there a way by 
 which worldly men, as worldly men, could enter this Divine 
 
82 The Members of Christ at home in Heaven. 
 
 The members 
 of Christ 
 greatly at 
 home in 
 heaven. 
 
 Isa. xlix. 15. 
 
 City, they would find themselves humiliathigly and wretchedly 
 out of their element. Could any of us gain admission to it in 
 our own nature and spirit, the loneliest sense of being 
 strangers and foreigners would seize and oppress us. But if 
 we are quickened together with Christ, and one nature and 
 spirit with Him, we shall be perfectly at home with all its 
 multitudes. The true children of God will be as much at rest 
 in their Father's house, as though they had been born and 
 brought up there. There will be innumerable diversities and 
 distinctions of wisdom, ability, disposition, and taste, among 
 them, yet all will be of one Heavenly nature. " As well the 
 singers as the players on instruments shall be there." Where 
 all the arts had their origin, they will also find their home, and 
 their freest scope of development. Redeemed men in heaven 
 being the manifested fulness of the Son of Man, will be 
 peculiarly honoured, by all orders of the heavenly world. 
 They will be felt to be essential to the completeness of 
 heaven. No one who thinks what Christ is to men, and what 
 He has done to redeem them to Himself, can believe that He 
 will ever allow anything throughout the endless future to 
 separate them from Himself. He and they are more strictly, 
 more closely, one life, than mother and child. It may be 
 possible for a mother to forget her sucking child, but it is not 
 possible for Him to forget the children for whom He has 
 travailed in the sorrows of death. 
 
 Yet a little while, and only a little while, will the strange birth 
 of nature cleave to us. Under the circumcising hand of death, 
 it will drop away from the inner man, and we shall be with 
 Christ. It will doubtless be many ages before we shall have 
 a conception of the immensity of the heavenly household, and 
 of the sources of our wealth and pleasure. The limits of the 
 visible universe are unsearchable ; how much more those of 
 heaven ! As there are constellations, and whole systems of 
 constellations, in remote space, of which we literally know 
 nothing, we may safely conclude that there are immense 
 heavens, and heavens of heavens, which no one order of 
 angels have ever seen. There will therefore remain for us, 
 
A good Analogy. 83 
 
 always and always, knowledge in store, wonders in store, and 
 new acquaintance to make. After long ages of growth, the 
 apostle John, or some other beloved disciple, will be dis- 
 coursing to us on the old words : "It doth not yet appear 
 what we shall be." Not only in God Himself, but in His 
 works and in His children, we shall inherit His unsearch- 
 ableness. 
 
 We are not angels, we are not even prophets, nor apostles, 
 but we are one with them, in the city of God. Of the 
 household, which is loving in God's love, and wise in God's 
 wisdom, and strong in His strength, and blessed in His 
 blessedness, and eternal in His Eternity, we are members. 
 We make one fellowship in God with them all. One Corner- 
 stone holds us all together, and makes us one House. The 
 Son of God is our foundation, or Central Life. Through His 
 oneness with us, and our oneness with Him, His Divine 
 Powers spring in us, and will for ever spring. 
 
 Had there been a complete correspondence between Natural things 
 Christ and a physical foundation, Paul would have written on ^^'^^1^'*'''''''"^ 
 Whom, and not " in Whom." But the correspondence be- spiritual, 
 tween things natural and spiritual is always limited and 
 imperfect. Otherwise indeed, it would not be true, that the 
 natural man cannot discern spiritual things. When natural 
 things are used as parables of the kingdom of Heaven, 
 approximative thoughts are suggested ; but they are incapable 
 of teaching strictly spiritual thoughts. They are shadows, 
 but by no means "the very image of the things." Spiritual 
 things, therefore, can only be accurately conceived by the 
 spiritual mind. 
 
 If the spirits of men are built into Christ, as into their 
 Corner-Stone, the resemblance between this most vital unit)' 
 and a stone structure must be very remote. The building up a good 
 of all the organs of the body from the blood, and in the blood, analogy, 
 is a more suggestive figure. The whole building, or body of 
 regenerate men, is in Christ, as the body is in its blood, which 
 is also its foundation ; and He is the Life of redeemed 
 humanity, as the blood is every where the life of the body. 
 
84 No Member of Christ cmt finally be out of his place. 
 
 A better A yet Stricter analogy is the relation between the soul and the 
 
 analogy. ^^^^^ « ^ll ^j^g building" of the body is "fitly framed 
 
 together" in one soul. One soul is in every part. The body 
 owes its unity to the soul, which inhabits it. The soul is 
 more than lord and master of the body ; it is " all and in all." 
 Without the soul, the body ceases to be a body : it rapidly 
 returns to its dust. As is the soul to the body, so is Christ to 
 men. "Without Me ye can do nothing." The whole 
 building, or household of new mankind, is fitly framed to- 
 gether in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Spirit of His whole 
 kingdom. It lives, and grows, from the seas of His out-flowing 
 life. Not in men, but in Him, is the life of men. They live 
 because He lives in them. As divine blood-relatives, apostles 
 and prophets are exquisitely related, and we are no less 
 closely and keenly related to both of them. The Spirit of 
 " the Beloved " is in us all, and we are all in Him. The 
 fittest, sweetest harmony of powers prevails in His Nature, 
 and the like harmony springs up and re-appears in His seed. 
 "He shall see His seed, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall 
 prosper in His hand." The whole believing human race is 
 His seed. "We are all the children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus." The members of the body are innumerable, 
 but they are a perfect unity, for One is their Life. Christ is 
 indivisible. 
 
 In the kingdom of our new humanity, no member can be 
 any more in a false position, or in a relation of unrest with any 
 other member, than the ears of the human body can change 
 places with the eyes, or the feet with the hands. The ruling 
 order in the heavenly kingdom, will surely be greater and not 
 less, than that which regulates the order of the different parts 
 and organs of the body. " God hath set the members every 
 I Cor. xii. 1 8. one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him." As Hooker 
 lay dying, he was observed to be held in an ecstacy of contem- 
 plation ; and on being asked what might be the subject of his 
 thoughts, he replied, that he was admiring the wondrous order 
 which prevails throughout all the distinctions and multitudes 
 of the heavenly world. " Without which order," he added. 
 
 Isa. liii. lO. 
 
 Gal. iii. 26. 
 
 No member 
 of Christ can 
 finally be out 
 of his place. 
 
An inspiring thonght. 85 
 
 " Peace could not be in Heaven." If on earth, which is 
 " without the gate," we find so much regularity and order, 
 what may we imagine to be the order and fitness of all things 
 in the house of our Father's Glory ? The endless manifold- 
 ness and the perfect order of His final heaven, God always 
 saw in His Son. Therefore He is strictly the Beginning 
 and the End of the Creation of God. He is the Eternal 
 Mount, in Whom, unchangeably, the pattern of all things 
 abides. His indwelling Life makes and moulds every 
 member of His house, draws him to his right community, 
 holds and preserves him in perfect relationship to every other 
 community and member, and thus secures the unity of the 
 whole body. 
 
 The growth of the body, on Christ's part, is spontaneous. The growth of 
 and on man's, consentaneous. " In Whom all the building fitly ^on"''^^ '^"'^" 
 framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord." 
 It grows from Christ, but it grows in unity with our consenting 
 affections. Christ never violates human freedom, but works in 
 it, with it, and by it. " What wilt thou that I should do unto 
 thee?" "Ask and ye shall receive." "According to your 
 faith be it unto you." He would open and develop in us much 
 more of His purity and truth, goodness and beauty; but He 
 waits for our desire, and by processes of wondrous wisdom and 
 gentleness. He seeks to beget in us that desire. 
 
 If the spirit of the flesh in us be ardent, or the spiritual Law of 
 aflections be lukewarm, the growth of the new nature will be e^'^^'i'^- 
 retarded, or suspended. If it be necessary to receive Christ, 
 in order to salvation, it is equally necessary to walk in Him, in 
 a spirit of watchfulness and prayer, in order to growth. 
 
 Inasmuch as "all the building is growing in the Lord," 
 and according to His order, it will, in the end, not only be a 
 glorious temple of humanity, but marvellously adapted for the 
 indwelling and manifestation of God. " I will dwell in them, 
 and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." I will 
 fill them, and they shall represent My fulness. 
 
 "The whole building," the redeemed of every generation. An inspiring 
 growing more and more into unity with each other, and with thought. 
 
86 
 
 The Law of Reverence. 
 
 Hiiulrances, 
 
 The law oi 
 reverence. 
 
 Christ, and through Him, with all the hidden powers of the 
 Godhead, is a work which is every way worthy of an Almighty 
 Father. To what glory, to what beauty, will the kingdom 
 grow? to what wisdom will its members attain ? what will be 
 their powers ? what their fellowship ? what their individual 
 freedom of action ? what their service and end, as one empire 
 in the Son, and in the Father ? 
 
 At present there is much in human souls, much in the 
 constitution of nature, and very much in the strife of the great 
 spirit-world, to hinder the full development of God's purpose 
 in Christ. But all hindrances have their appointed limit. In 
 due time, they will all be over-mastered, or removed ; and God 
 and the redeemed race will come into perfect relationship. 
 Hitherto, not even Heaven has had any example of such a 
 unity. The unspeakable intimacy of the relation between the 
 Eternal Word and the Father will repeat itself, and come into 
 play in the whole body of Christ. In it the powers of the 
 Divine Nature will have a creaturely fellowship, to the ever 
 changing, ever growing delight of its members. It will be the 
 wonder-triumph of Love. 
 
 But intimacy with God, and the delights of communion, 
 will only deepen, and never abate the spirit of reverence. 
 Nearness to God will be power and bliss, but it will also be 
 awe. Israel remaining in the remote camp soon sank into 
 irreverence ; but the reverence of Moses, going up to the 
 mount of direct fellowship, grew at every step. Irreverence is 
 always a sufficient evidence of distance. Those who are 
 nearest to God, and who embody most of His life, will always 
 be the humblest and most reverential of His children. 
 
IV. 
 
 WITH HUMILITY AND PATHOS, PAUL ADMIRES THE GRACE, 
 
 WHICH HAD CALLED AND QUALIFIED HIM TO MAKE KNOWN 
 
 THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES, WHICH ARE NOW ACCESSIBLE 
 
 TO ALL MEN. CHAP. HI. I- 1 3. 
 
 Chap. iii. i-6. — For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of 
 Jesus CJirist for you, Gentiles, 2 If you Jiave heard of the 
 dispensation of the grace of God, lohich is given me to 
 you-zvard : 3 How that by Revelation He made knozvn 
 to me the mystery; as I have before zvritten in fczv zvords, 
 4 Whereby, zvhen ye read, ye may be able to perceive my 
 understanding in the mystery of Christ; 5 Which in 
 other ages zvas not made knozvn to the sons of men, as it 
 is nozv revealed tuito His holy apostles by the Spirit ; 
 6 That the Gentiles are fellozv-heirs, and of the same 
 body, and partakers of His promise iji Christ by the 
 Gospel. 
 
 These words, from the second verse, are only a part of one Parenthesis. 
 of the weighty parentheses, which distinguish the letters of 
 this apostle. The whole parenthesis runs down to the end of 
 the 13th verse. When he commenced this passage, he was 
 going to write what we do not discover till we come to the 14th 
 verse. His heart was too full ; neither his tongue, nor his pen, 
 was swift enough for his soul. He laboured to utter himself, 
 but the generation of his thoughts was too rapid. Before he 
 could put down his current thought, another rushed upon him, 
 and another, insisting on embodiment. His one subject, the 
 new world which he has found in Christ Jesus, is too vast, too 
 full, too wonderful for words. His mind and heart are equally 
 captivated by what he briefly calls "the mystery of Christ.'" 
 
88 A Sufferer for the Gentiles. 
 
 He has heard Gamaliel discourse of God and sacred things, 
 he has read the Grecian philosophy, he has surveyed the visible 
 heavens and earth, but his present knowledge transcends all 
 these. God is opened to him ; man is opened to him ; and 
 God's plan, which comprehends the unity of all things, is 
 All for Christ, opened to him. Henceforth he is, and must be, the servant of 
 this mystery. Christ is the centre and soul of the mystery. 
 In Him it is finished. The unity of all things which is reign- 
 ing in Him, will be developed and triumphant in the whole 
 universe. " For me to live is Christ." Christ is his all. 
 His freedom is for Christ, his bonds are for Christ, his time 
 and his strength are for Christ, his reason and passions for 
 Christ, his joy and his tears for Christ, his death, and his life 
 after death, shall be for Christ. " I Paul, the prisoner of the 
 Lord." Could he be indifferent to Jesus Christ, he might 
 instantly be at large, and in high esteem. Strictly, he was in 
 prison for Jesus Christ. His chain was sacred to him. It was 
 a sign to him of the strength of the bond, which had made him 
 one with the Son of God. Stronger than iron, and more last- 
 ing than the world, is the chain of perfect love, which binds 
 him to Christ. 
 A sufferer for Had he been narrow and exclusive in his spirit, he would 
 
 the Gentiles, have been honoured and beloved. For his impartiality, he was 
 hated of his countrymen. Had he shewn a strong bias in 
 their favour, and been prejudiced against men of other nations, 
 they would have borne with him, and his Christianity too. 
 He is writing to the Gentiles, and he reminds them that he is 
 in prison, as their apostle. He had not only given to all men 
 the Gospel, but he had given it to them, free from Jewish 
 . associations. " I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for yoic 
 Gent lies y There is too much reason to fear, that, even in our 
 own day, the grand offence of many a noble servant of Jesus 
 Christ, is the breadth of his Christianity. Let a man sell him- 
 self to some one church, or party, warmly plead for his own 
 party, exhibit the errors and defects of all other churches, and 
 I he will live and die in the affections of his people. On the 
 other hand, a man who declines specially to own this church, 
 
PanTs revelation. 89 
 
 or disown the other, who looks with an evil eye on none, but 
 embraces all in the broad spirit of his impartial love, will 
 certainly find that there are grave charges still against the 
 Spirit of Christ, as distinct from the spirit of party. He may 
 calculate on the cold suspicions and hard judgments of the - 
 self-loving churches. Let him count the cost, and, if he can, \ 
 declare himself for Christ and humanity ; or, if he be not able, ' 
 then for Christ and his own party. 
 
 It is no small praise to say that Jesus is the King, Whose 
 subjects have always found positive pleasure in suffering for 
 Him. To be disowned and set at nought for His sake are 
 their honour and joy. In their esteem, no distinction could 
 equal that of being partakers of Christ's sufferings. " We glory 
 in tribulation." While suffering for His sake, the spirit of 
 glory and of God rests upon them. What are the honours 
 and rewards of party-zeal compared with this ? 
 
 Paul presumes that his Gentile friends have heard that a Paul's 
 special dispensation of the grace of God has been committed '^'-'^^•^^'o"- 
 to him on their behalf. "If you have heard of the administra- 
 tion of grace which is given me to you-ward :" how that when 
 I was ignorantly His persecutor, the Lord Himself appeared 
 to me in the way, called me by name, and commissioned me 
 to bear His Name to you Gentiles. Neither by those who 
 were apostles before me, nor by any man was the gospel 
 revealed to me ; but " by revelation He made known to me 
 the mystery." " I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which 
 was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received 
 it of man, nor was I taught it, but by the Revelation of Jesus 
 Christ." Gal. i. 11, 12. The recognition of the supernatural 
 element in Paul's conversion will enable us at once to account 
 for the intensity of his spirit, the fulness of his illumination,- 
 the authority of his apostleship, the multitude of his labours, 
 and his overflowing joyfulness under all his persecutions and 
 sufferings. He has received a direct communication of light 
 and power from Christ. He has already referred to this "in 
 few words," in chap. i. 9, 10. The secret of God has been 
 made known to him, namely, that it is "according to His 
 
90 Paurs revelation. 
 
 good pleasure" to bring about the unity of all things in heaven 
 and earth, by Christ Jesus. 
 
 Special provisions were necessary for the opening of the 
 gospel to the heathen world. As the kingdom of heaven was 
 equally for all nations, it was important that it should have no 
 Jewish bias, nor peculiarity. The immediate apostles of our 
 Lord were unable to divest themselves of their national pre- 
 dilections. They had known "Christ after the flesh;" and 
 both in their partialities and prejudices they were decidedly 
 Jewish. The Lord would have an apostle who had not known 
 Him after the flesh ; and He would make him wholly indepen- 
 dent of His earlier apostles. His new apostle should receive 
 his knowledge and authority directly from Himself "by Reve- 
 lation." He would make him clearly to see and understand 
 that the Gospel is older than Judaism, and that there is no 
 reason whatever why it should have a Jewish tincture. God 
 always knew His own purpose, and therefore, before it fell into 
 a Jewish mould, revealed its universality. Eighteen years 
 before Paul wrote this Epistle, he had been, in spirit, caught 
 up into Paradise, and returned full of the wealth of her wisdom, 
 and of her all-embracing motherly love. The Scripture, fore- 
 seeing that God would give His righteousness to the heathen 
 through faith, preached before (some centuries prior to the 
 giving of the law) the gospel to Abraham, saying, "In thee 
 shall all natiojis be blesssed." As the heathen had never been 
 fettered by the yoke of Judaism, it was our Lord's will that 
 they should never be warped by it, but receive the Gospel as 
 the primary and original grace of God to all men. " Where- 
 fore then serveth the law.^ It was added because of transgres- 
 sions, till (Christ) the seed should come, to Whom the promise 
 was made." 
 
 The burdensomeness and servility of Jewish types were 
 given because of the grossness and hardness of that people's 
 heart. The yoke of bondage was so ordered, that it might 
 fulfil the office of a conducting slave (schoolmaster) to Christ. 
 The Gentiles, who had not been subject to this magisterial 
 slave, though in a certain sense farther off from the knowledo-e 
 
The reserve of God. 91 
 
 of God, were better prepared for the freedom of the gospel. 
 The Jews were too proud of their " schoolmaster" to resign 
 him for Christ. The conducting slave enslaved them. Few 
 of them were conducted to Christ, and those who were, 
 stopped short of the liberty wherewith Christ would have made 
 them free. In our own day, there are many who impose 
 Jewish conditions on the gospel. They cannot imagine the 
 pure freedom of Christ. The spirit of sonship in the heart is 
 too simple and heavenly for them. They prefer a considerable 
 amount of ceremonial slavery. There are Jewish, Romish, 
 and Anglican minds, who, like the Negro, are of opinion, that 
 by gorgeous apparel they can set off the Divine simplicity. 
 And God permits them to indulge their taste, and, if they 
 please, to name themselves after St Peter ; but Paul's gospel 
 to the nations is unencumbered wisdom, a spirit of life in the 
 inner man, " Christ in you the hope of glory." 
 
 He contends that philosophers are vainly so called, so long 
 as their wisdom is derived from visible things. Until the 
 Hidden Wisdom, which is Christ, is revealed to them, they 
 are " in bondage under the elements of the world," duped by 
 principles and reasonings which are fallacious, and remarkable 
 alike for sensuous acuteness, and spiritual dulness of under- 
 standing. " In other ages," the deepest purpose of God, " the The reserve of 
 mystery of His will," " was not made known unto the sons of ° ' 
 men as it is now revealed by the Spirit." The reserve which 
 God used for thousand years after thousand years, should 
 suggest to us caution in limiting the purpose of God. God 
 has doubtless unspeakable things still in reserve. The Jewish 
 people were made to feel that there was an awful distance and 
 separation between them and God ; but of His nearness to 
 them, under their distance and darkness, they had little sus- 
 picion. That the condemning power of sin was the condition 
 of their own nature, that God's whole heart was towards all 
 nations, that He was resolved, by the Sun of His Love, to break 
 through the sin-cloud between Himself and them, and to estab- 
 lish with them direct relationship, were more than they could 
 imagine. That, before the foundation of the world, the Son 
 
92 The reserve of God. 
 
 of God had made the difficulty of sin His own, that in the 
 fulness of time, He would come in human nature, to be made 
 sin for men, purge away their sin by His death, and by His 
 glorification become wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
 redemption unto all who should receive Him, were impossible 
 conceptions to them. But the special conceit of their self-love 
 was, that they, of all men, were the favourites of God. When, 
 therefore, God disclosed the fact that He is " no respecter of 
 persons," — that the Gentile world is as dear to Him as the 
 Jewish, — that the gospel of His Heart is equally for all nations, 
 the Jew took offence, and refused to enter a kingdom, which 
 gave to him no distinction above other men. 
 
 Even Peter was compelled to bear witness to the Divine 
 Impartiality, the absolute equality of God's love to all men. 
 " God Which knoweth the hearts, bare the Gentiles witness, 
 giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did to us ; and put 
 
 Acts XV. 7-9. no difference betweeit tis and them, purifying their hearts by 
 faith." " God hath showed me that I should not call any man 
 
 Acts X. 28. common, or unclean." Of all that is worth inheriting, or 
 hoping for, the Gentiles are fellow-heirs with the Jews. 
 " There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek : for 
 
 Rom. X. 12. the Same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him." 
 If the Jews will not be " fellow-heirs, and of the Same Body" 
 with the Gentiles, they cannot be heirs of God at all. It is 
 only just that the exclusive spirit should be self-exclusive. 
 Not only exclusive Jews, but exclusive Christians will find at 
 last that they have excluded themselves. " With what judg- 
 ment ye judge, ye shall be judged ; and with what measure ye 
 
 Matt. vii. 2. mete, it shall be measured to you again." Nothing removes 
 men farther from God than to believe that they alone are 
 acceptable to Him. These are the proud that He knoweth 
 afar off. In their heart they thank God that they are not as 
 other men, and thereby give evidence against themselves that 
 they are captives in the cold house of their own self-love, and 
 strangers to the grace of God. 
 
The Gospel freed from yitdaism. 93 
 
 Chap. iii. 7, 8 — Whereof I zvas made a minister, ac- 
 cording to tJie gift of tJie grace of God given unto me, by 
 the effectical zvorking of His power. 8 Unto me who am 
 less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I 
 should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ. 
 
 It is beyond the power of those who were apostles before 
 him, to make a party-man of this new apostle. If they are 
 satisfied with their course, he is satisfied with his. He has the 
 judgment of God, and the judgment of men will not move 
 him. " The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto The Gospel 
 me as the gospel of the circumcision was to Peter ; (for He that juj^ail™'" 
 wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circum- 
 cision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles ;) 
 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, 
 perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me 
 and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship ; that we should go 
 unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." And Gai. ii. 7-9. 
 having received authority from the Lord Himself, for his un- 
 Jewish gospel, he manfully defended his distinctive mission, 
 and "gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour," to the 
 advocates of the Judaic gospel. "These who seemed to be 
 somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me ; 
 (God accepteth no man's person,) for they who seemed to be 
 somewhat added nothing to me." I derived no advantage Cai. ii. 6. 
 whatever from those who were apostles before me. 
 
 So far from Peter having any superior authority in these 
 early days, it is specially Peter that is withstood to the face, 
 and even blamed by this new apostle. In the absence of certain 
 persons, Peter was much influenced by the freedom of Paul, 
 but as soon as the shadow of James came before him, he re- 
 pented of his freedom. " Before that certain came from James, 
 he did eat with the Gentiles ; but when they were come, ke 
 withdrew and separated himself, fearing thc7ii zuhich zuere of the 
 circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled with him, inso- 
 
94 The spirit of Paul must awake once more. 
 
 much that Barnabas, (my friend and colleague,) was carried 
 Gal. ii. 12, 13. away with their dissimulation." There was clearly a time- 
 serving spirit, and the fear of man, in Peter, which brought 
 him into a snare. The Romish Church, perhaps not incon- 
 sistently, recognizes Peter as the fountain-head of her authority. 
 But it is of God that Paul is made independent of Peter. 
 That His new apostle might be the better qualified to preach the 
 gospel of His Son to the heathen, God wrought in him by His 
 own immediate power and grace, rather than through Peter. 
 The spirit of This argument of Paul has not yet fulfilled its last service. 
 rwake"once ' ^^ ^'^ have to be used yet, with new and overwhelming effect, 
 more. against the growths and pretensions of ages. We shall have to 
 
 I sweep on one side the ritualism of three thousand years, and 
 clear away whole mountains of imposing solemnities, hierarchi- 
 cal j and materialistic solemnities, that the simplicity and 
 majesty of God's Promise may be given to men. The verbose 
 and laborious methods of a fleshly Church, even though it 
 should include Moses and St Peter, cannot disannul, aud shall 
 not for ever becloud, the Promise of Life which, long before 
 Judaism arose, was " confirmed of God in Christ." The blast 
 of the trumpet is at hand. God will muster His hosts to the 
 battle. " Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also 
 heaven." There is an ecclesiasticism, (venerable perhaps, not 
 only in this world, but also in Hades,) which must be utterly 
 broken up. What a day for arrogant and exclusive churches, 
 when their heaven passes away ! " This word, yet once more, 
 signifieth the removing of those things which are mutable, as 
 of things which are made, that those things which cannot be 
 Heb. xii. 26, shaken may remain." 
 
 ^^' Paul can never cease to wonder at the Divine power, which 
 
 so suddenly and completely delivered him from himself, and 
 from his age and nation : — that from being a fiery and in- 
 tolerant Jew, he should be made an apostle of the impartial 
 gospel of God to the heathen : — that he, of all men, should be 
 made to say that Jew and Gentile are fellow-members of one 
 Kingdom! I, who was exceedingly mad against the name of 
 Jesus, — I, who was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injuri- 
 
Unsearchable riches for men of all nations. 95 
 
 ous, that I should be chosen, and called, " to preach among the 
 Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." If any one ever 
 felt it to be quite impossible that he should be a disciple of 
 Jesus, it was this man. But we must admire the wisdom which 
 makes the greatest preacher of free grace, himself an example 
 of its freedom and power. " I obtained mercy, that in me first 
 Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern 
 to them who should hereafter believe on Him to life ever- 
 lasting." I Tim. i. 16. 
 What more can the ambition of men desire to hear, than Unsearchable 
 that unsearchable riches are accessible to them ? Jews desire "faU nations" 
 to be rich ; Gentiles desire to be rich. In all the eternal 
 essentials of humanity they may be rich. God wishes men to 
 be rich. He will have riches commended to them. Paul was 
 expressly raised up, and qualified, to preach to men their own 
 unsearchable riches ; — that by a marriage-covenant they are en- 
 titled to the wealth of the Son of God. To preach the Gospel 
 is to make known to men the sources, and the boundlessness, of 
 their treasure. It is but a proof of the more than royal descent 
 of men, that there are no limits to their desire of possession. 
 The grief is that they allow themselves to be allured from their 
 *' true riches," to the shadowy and fictitious riches of material 
 substance ; and that not simply for the sake of use, but for the 
 sake of glory. God proposes to make man rich in wisdom, 
 rich in goodness, rich in joy, rich in beauty, rich in influence ; 
 and to make him essentially and unchangeably rich, by making 
 his wealth inseparable from his being. The world is but a 
 false answer to man's desire for wealth. God warns him of 
 the temptation, and reveals to him the Infinite Mine where all 
 the gold is human and eternal. As all material gold, before it 
 came into the possession of men, was first in the earth, so were 
 all the spiritual riches of the angels derived from the Son of 
 God. The Maker of all things must be unsearchably rich. 
 There must be more in His nature than in all things which 
 He has made. There must be worlds on worlds of undis- 
 covered wealth in Him Who made the worlds. All lovely and 
 precious things are but hints of the riches of the Son of God. 
 
96 Unsearchable riches for meit of all nations. 
 
 Floral loveliness, the fruits of the earth, the splendour of 
 metals, the lights in precious stones, and the glories of the fir- 
 mament, are the material shadows of His wealth. The beau- 
 ties of Paradise, and the wonders of the heavens, are higher 
 manifestations of His riches. How can one help being ambi- 
 tious "to win Christ, and be found in Him ?" to exchange the 
 straitness of one's own nature, and the thinness and poverty of 
 one's own righteousness, for the resources of His nature, and 
 the riches of His righteousness! The man, Christ Jesus, was 
 the Son of God, infinitely humiliated. If, therefore, you still 
 think of Him "after the flesh," — that is according to the 
 limits of His fleshly manifestation, — you do both Him and your 
 own spirit a great wrong. Let us be grateful for His Incar- 
 nation, but let us carefully distinguish between the infinitude 
 of His power and glory, and the veil of His flesh. " The un- 
 searchable riches" pertain to the boundlessness of His Divine 
 Nature, as the Only Begotten of the Father. His glorified 
 Humanity is the Supreme unitive expression of these riches, 
 and the channel of their communication to men. The Son of 
 God and Son of man, being made one, man and boundless 
 opulence can never more be divorced. The like title which 
 a wife has to the wealth of her husband, men have to the 
 wealth of Christ ; and much more, for the wife is less one 
 with her husband than the Divine and human natures are one 
 Christ. 
 
 Not only "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," 
 but all the elements of true being are man's, since Christ is 
 man's. The eternity of His nature, the harmony of His 
 powers, the glory of His righteousness, and the humility of His 
 goodness, are made man's. Christ will not only be unutter- 
 ably lovely and precious to all beholders for ever ; but His 
 glories will be seen in them. He will make them increasingly 
 rich in themselves, that by the very wealth of their excellence 
 they may attract more of His excellence. The more freely 
 they receive, the more freely will they give. Christ's object is 
 to make them real princes of God, that whithersoever they go, 
 they may ray out divine influence, giving and giving, without 
 
Unsearchable riches for men of all nations. 97 
 
 consideration and without loss. As the sun gives freely what 
 he has, and what he is, and yet is none the poorer, in like man- 
 ner will the children of God be always giving out the virtues 
 of Christ, yet be always overflowing. 
 
 All the members of Christ will inherit and dispense His 
 riches, but diversely ; no one possessing precisely the same 
 measure, or the same combination of virtues as another. The 
 endless variety of glorified men will be an open, and ever 
 opening, manifestation of the riches of God. 
 
 And contrariwise from worldly riches, which bring care to 
 their possessor, the heavenly riches will deliver from care. In 
 the kingdom of Christ, the greater the opulence, the greater 
 the freedom. " If the Son make you free, you shall be free 
 indeed." The " far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory " will be so much internal power, not oppressing, but 
 carrying the owner. The depth of your rest, the exuberance 
 of your joy, the force of your influence, the manifoldness of 
 your service, and the charm of your appearance, will be in 
 proportion to your divine wealth. 
 
 By penitence and faith, by love and desire, let us open our 
 souls to Christ, that we may inherit substance. " I am the 
 Lord thy God; open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." rsai. xxxi. lo. 
 " Riches and honour are with Me ; durable riches and righte- 
 ousness. I cause those that love Me to inherit substance ; 
 and I will fill their treasures." " Buy of Me gold that thou Prov. viii. 18, 
 mayest be rich," " Beware lest any man spoil you through ^'^-^ j.. ^^ 
 philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after 
 the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." All the Coi. u. 8. 
 philosophies of the world, and all the powers of nature, are of 
 meagre significance, compared with the riches of Christ. As 
 the universal Son of God, He carried in Himself before the 
 creation, the whole possibility of Heaven and earth. As the 
 Son of Man, and " the First-born from the dead," He is the 
 beginning of the new creation. As the unity of all things 
 in Himself. He is the First-fruits unto God of the final harvest 
 of redemption. He is in Himself God's first means, and 
 last end. 
 
98 Creation not hitherto complete. 
 
 Missing rigi.r By Wandering up and down, by roaming through earth and 
 wealth.'^" sky, by ransacking all history, men do but miss their right 
 reason, and their wealth. They pick up fragments of the 
 great wreck, and walk in a museum of death. Cruel mistake. 
 They resign God's Gospel, for a patch-work made up of the 
 shreds and tatters of helpless nature. They turn " from the 
 unsearchable riches of Christ," to a poor creation that cannot 
 lift itself out of vanity. It is vain, therefore, to look to the 
 hills or plains, to the light, or darkness of nature, for salvation. 
 Christ is salvation. He is perfect Man, and makes perfect 
 men. To be in Him, is to be wise, to be in Him, is to be rich, 
 to be in Him is Eternal life. Whatever you are, if you are 
 not in Him, your knowledge is fatuous and incoherent, 
 and your course downwards to incapacity, and fruitless 
 endeavouring. 
 
 Chap. hi. 9-13. — And to make all men see zvhat is the 
 dispensation {olxovo/ua not Konuvia) of the mystery, zuhieh 
 fi'om the beginning of the zvorld hath been hid in God, 
 Who created all things. 10 To the intent that now unto 
 the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, might be 5 
 
 knozvn, by the means of the church, the manifold wisdom 
 of God, II According to the eternal purpose which He 
 wrought in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In Whom ive have 
 boldness and access zvith confidence by the faith of Him. 
 1 3 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations 
 for you, which is your glory. 
 
 Creation not Whatever creatures may have thought, it is clear that God 
 
 cmnpkte. ^^^ never yet regarded the creation as in a final or completed 
 condition. It is natural that men should look upon their 
 heavens and earth as finished ; and as a constitution of things 
 appointed to serve for a time, they are finished; but in relation 
 to God's original design, they will yet have to undergo mar- 
 vellous changes. It is probable that, prior to the great angel- 
 fall, the angels looked upon their heaven as finished and 
 perfect; but God knew otherwise. He carried in Himself a 
 
Creation not hitherto complete. 99 
 
 purpose which no angel knew. That purpose is at length 
 somewhat opened, both to men and angels, but it is by no 
 means carried out. It is both worthy of God and advantageous 
 to His creatures, that the universe should be perfected by their 
 co-operation, and the future processes of ages. Myriads of 
 myriads of ages could be occupied in no better way than in 
 enriching, maturing, and harmonizing the whole house, which 
 God and all His children are to inhabit and enjoy for ever. 
 Indeed it is incomprehensible that a house which is composed 
 of countless orders of creatures, each one of whom has a sepa- 
 rate, individual will, should hastily, or soon, realize its finally 
 balanced relationships. It is surely the praise and glory of 
 God's plan, that it requires cycle after cycle, and dispensation 
 after dispensation, for its development. 
 
 In Himself, the plan was perfect, but apart from the long 
 and manifold experiences of His creatures it could not be 
 fulfilled. To be wrought in His Son was one thing, but to be 
 wrought out in the wills and thoughts of His children, and in 
 
 . - T T 
 
 the condition of the creation, was a very different thing. He 
 knew that only through failure, and out of failure, the finally 
 steadfast and harmonious condition of things (the kingdom 
 which cannot be moved) would grow. 
 
 The failure and misery of self-will, and all the mistakes of 
 creatures, will contribute both to the strength and the joy of 
 the final house of God. The craving of infinite Love will be 
 satisfied. In the Incarnation, Conflict, and Victory, of the 
 Logos, the beginning of the end has come, and His reign 
 (being the reign of all things in unity) will bring in the Father's 
 first idea, namely, the absolute perfectness and enduring order 
 of His creation. 
 
 In proportion to the magnitude of a work, very consider- 
 able progress must be made, before persons who are looking on 
 from without, are able to form any idea of the design. Till a 
 comparatively recent date, no one on earth, nor any one in 
 heaven, had the slightest conjecture of the work which God has 
 set Himself to do. " No one in heaven, nor in earth, neither 
 under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look 
 
loo Paiirs insight into the mystery. 
 
 Rev.v. 3. thereon." Jesus, the First-born from the dead, is the Opener 
 
 of the book. 
 Paul's insight Very unexpectedly to himself, by the effectual working of 
 
 into the God's DOwer, marvellous insig^ht was g-iven to Paul into the 
 
 mystery, ^ , , ^ , , ^ 
 
 mystery. With unfeigned humility, he declares that he, " less 
 than the least of all saints," has been expressly illuminated and 
 qualified by the Lord Jesus, " to make all men see the mystery 
 which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God." 
 To " preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ," was only one branch of the office and service to which 
 he was called. " Unto me is this grace given, that I should 
 preach," &c., &c. ; " and to viake all men see,'' &c., &c. In him, 
 the loftiest powers of thought were consecrated to their loftiest 
 use. He was the chosen instrument and channel of the 
 Divine Wisdom to the minds of all nations, for all time. 
 Specially through him, men have received higher and clearer 
 views than were ever before known, of the eternal plan, accord- 
 ing to which God is working, and will work. As no other 
 apostle did, or perhaps could, he was made to conceive the vast 
 bearings of the present dispensation, which Is the revelation 
 of the harmony of God's purpose, and the exposition of the 
 dark parable of nature. "He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to 
 Acts ix. 15; bear My Name before the nations," ^' to open their eyes," &c., 
 x.xvi. 18, 19. ^^ « "VVhereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient 
 to the heavenly vision." Though greatly revealed to him, he 
 still calls it " the mystery," for it has unfathomable depths and 
 incomprehensible breadths. It has not only bearings on the 
 past and future of our own world, but also upon all spirits and 
 angels. Its scope is known only to God. The most far- 
 seeing creatures are even yet incapable of a worthy thought of 
 His Reconciliation, comprehending, as it does, all material and 
 spiritual things in one plan and purpose. Only a few solitary 
 chords can be struck of that great Harmony, which God has 
 always contemplated and cherished, as the end to be brought 
 about between Himself and His creation. Gifted minds would 
 scarcely study so severely and contentedly the mere pheno- 
 mena of the present temporal form of nature, if they were not 
 
Redemption and hell. i o i 
 
 blind to that richer field of investigation which is opened to us 
 in God's revealed purpose of universal Harmony. 
 
 Angels are students here, earnestly bent on learning, if Angels— 
 possible, the notes of the ultimate chorus, not simply of heaven sci^'^i^rsoftiie 
 
 1 11 rill* 1/^1 ^1 kiiiLjdoni of 
 
 and earth, but of all things and God. 1 hey are more than Christ. 
 willing to enter into the human school of Divine mysteries. 
 Even under the old typical dispensation, the cherubim were 
 represented with heads inclined downward, — suggesting that 
 it was already known in the Heavenly Court, that God is pre- 
 paring His chief work belozv. He is not redeeming men for 
 their sakes only, but for His own sake, and for heaven's sake 
 also. To all Principalities and Powers, the peculiar Dominion 
 of Jesus Christ, is to be the mirror of mirrors, for reflecting the 
 manifoldness of the Divine Nature. Paul says : The mystery 
 which from the besfinnincr hath been hid in God, is revealed 
 unto men, " to the intoit, that now unto the Principalities and 
 Powers in the heavenlics, might be made knozvn, by the Chuj'ch, 
 the manifold zuisdoni of God'' Hitherto they have known but 
 little of the richly various (toXuto/x/Xo^-) wisdom of God. The 
 Son of man draws together the elders of heaven and the chil- 
 dren of time. His work, as the Restitutor of all things, (be- 
 cause of its centrality and universal bearings,) mightily attracts 
 all spirits, not only the unfallen, but the fallen. From the 
 death and ascension of Christ, the universe has been dated 
 anew. From that great crisis of spiritual wrath, from that 
 great triumph of Eternal Love, all things in heaven, and all 
 things in earth, and all things in hell, are advancing towards a 
 new issue. The ascension of Christ has made heaven higher 
 and greater than it was before. The new height, as a new 
 centre, is making a new circumference. Heaven is intensely 
 interested in this new opening of God's wonders, and diligently 
 co-operating with Christ in His work. 
 
 The powers of hell likewise perceive the ultimate effect of Redemption 
 Redemption on their condition, and are stirring up all their ^""^^ '^^'i- 
 powers of malice and subtlety to oppose and retard it. They 
 clearly foresee that when they can no longer embody their 
 passions in mankind, and no longer find any outlet for their 
 
I02 Mutual syinpathies p7'eparatory to union. 
 
 Our angel 
 friends. 
 
 Mutual 
 sympithies 
 preparatory 
 to union. 
 
 fiery might in the creatures and elements, the reaction of their 
 own malignant natures on themselves will bring upon them a 
 new fierceness of torment. That this issue is viewed with 
 unutterable horror in hell, we learn from their own complaint : 
 " Art thou come to torment us before the time ?" Already 
 they felt the sharpness of their own wrath beginning to roll 
 back on them, but they knew the day of doom was not yet. If 
 the presence of Christ in the weakness of our flesh occasioned 
 them new torment, well may they dread the full end of His 
 Incarnation, in the redemption of mankind, and the glorifica- 
 tion of the earth. For the present, they find a bath of assuage- 
 ment in the natural souls of men, and in the elements of the 
 world. Not until all their fire and wrath are pent up in them- 
 selves will they have any experience of the horribleness of 
 their condition. This new beginning, or the shutting up of 
 hell in hell, is what they dread as " the judgment of the great 
 day." The lessons which they will learn through the kingdom 
 of Christ are the hopelessness of rebellion, the adequacy of 
 the Son of God to put down all contrary rule, authority, and 
 power, to reduce all enemies under His feet, and, at the same 
 time, to secure immense accessions of power, bliss, and glory 
 to the heavens of obedient creatures. In the empire of re- 
 deemed men they will see a harmony which embodies " all 
 things," a kingdom which, to eternity, will be a record and 
 monument of the all-sufficiency both of the goodness and 
 wisdom of God. While in their own condition, and in the 
 darkness and desolation around them, they will be made to see 
 and taste the hideous fruit of their own self-will. 
 
 The Heavenly angels are wholly with us, as friends and 
 fellow servants, in the new kingdom of the Son of God. They 
 know that they have yet to be perfected. They have their 
 own wisdom, but they know that they have a great wealth of 
 wisdom and knowledge yet to acquire. There is not an angel 
 in heaven whose heart and mind are not drawn to that book 
 of wonders, which the Lamb once slain is opening. 
 
 He is at once attracting all the heavenly powers, and 
 drawing upward the thoughts and hearts of men. The inter- 
 
The bearing of men before the Angels. 1 03 
 
 communication between heaven and earth is unceasing-. This 
 invisible communion of thought and affection is preparatory to 
 manifest union. The earth being Hephzibah to heaven, and 
 heaven being Hephzibah to the earth, in the end, they cannot 
 fail to be mutually Beulah to each other. The marriage 
 celebration when it comes will be the greatest day which the 
 universe has ever known. All the redeemed, whether in 
 earth or heaven, are looking forward to this day with tender 
 desire. All the angels are looking forward to it with equal 
 desire. Christ, as the Son of God, and the Son of man, is 
 looking forward to it, as to His recompense. The final union 
 of heaven and earth, resulting in accessions of wisdom and 
 streno-th to the angels, and innumerable fruits and services to 
 the whole creation, was precisely " the joy that was set before 
 Him." 
 
 As Paul was specially raised up and qualified to help men 
 to see into the mystery, which from the beginning had been 
 hidden in the Divine Nature, there can be no doubt that God 
 has provided, and will yet provide, richly gifted and illumi- 
 nated men, whose calling it shall be to open, to the primitive 
 inhabitants of Heaven, those new depths and aspects of His 
 Nature, which the Incarnation, and the whole process of 
 Redemption have evolved. 
 
 Let me add a brief extract from a letter received from a 
 friend as this exposition was being prepared for the press. 
 " The Church is designed in God's eternal purpose to show 
 forth, and make known, in ages still to come, both to angelic 
 principalities and powers, and fallen ditto, the products of the 
 manifold wisdom of God. None but Christ, and they who 
 are supremely Christ's, can possibly do this. They will fulfil 
 the type of the Aaronic priesthood. The present dry things 
 will be made to blossom in them abundantly. Their chief 
 mission and delight will consist in making known the hidden 
 things of God." 
 
 In virtue of the Son of God's life in them, and their life in The hearing of 
 Him, believers have not only an introduction, or access to the "^^^1^^^ 
 heavenly world, but complete rest and assurance in the presence 
 
I04 The bearing of men before the angels. 
 
 of the angels. " In Him we have access, with confidence." 
 The meekness and humiHty of true Christians, therefore, are a 
 veil of God drawn over the power and glory of their condition. 
 The world judged of Christ from His outward appearance : in 
 the glory of His inner nature, " they knew Him not. There- 
 
 1 John iii. I. fore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." 
 
 The distinction, which Paul calls " our boldness," before the 
 angels, is but the noble bearing of the King's children. Were 
 Christians only reckoned, or treated as God's children, they 
 would, without doubt, be awkward and constrained in the 
 presence of angelic dignities and powers. But being made 
 children by a participation of Christ, they will enter upon their 
 inheritance with an open, artless, assurance. Not as strangers 
 will they take their places in the midst of the heavenly orders, 
 but with the ease and confidence of divine sons returning 
 home. 
 
 In Christ Jesus we are not merely saved, but greatly 
 saved. We are not only saved from sin, but from the timidity 
 and pitifulness of a state of pardon. The Son of God endows 
 all His saved with His own Princeliness. No vestige of 
 servility will remain in them. " If the Son make you free, ji/<? 
 shall be free indeed^ " God hath not given us the spirit of 
 
 2 Tim. i. 7. fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." "There 
 I johniv. 18. is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear." The con- 
 fidence of the saved in heaven will be God-sustained ; for 
 God will dwell in them, and they in God. It would be equally 
 abhorrent to God, and painful to them, that, by a spirit of con- 
 cession, they should be rcpitted perfect, or reputed anything 
 that they are not. " The spirits of just men are made perfecty 
 The spirit and glory of the Eternal Father and of Jesus, 
 springing as from our own nature, in us, will give us a perfectly 
 composed confidence in wearing the honours, and using the 
 privileges of our Father's House. We shall shortly put away 
 the manner and tone of beggars, and inherit the royalty and 
 joyousness of our new nature. Doubt and hesitation will leave 
 us, and the spirit of might fill us for ever. 
 
 Christ having given to us directness of access, even unto the 
 
The sufferings of believers are our gain. 105 
 
 holiest things of the Heavenly mansions, let us use our privi- Hesitancy 
 lege freely. We owe to Him assurance. Doubt dishonours ^ishonours 
 Him. Why should we doubt His word ? Why should we 
 doubt the work which He accomplished for us, by His death, 
 yea rather, by His entrance into heaven, in our nature ? Let 
 our faith be noble. Timidity is not faith. Neither by our 
 speech, nor by our manner of coming before God, let us inti- 
 mate, that after all, we are not quite confident about our 
 right of approach. We may easily pain the angels, grieve 
 Christ, and gratify Satan, by our hesitancy in using the new 
 and living way, which is freely and righteously opened to us. 
 It must vastly please Satan to see that the very creatures for 
 whom Christ suffered, and now reigns in heaven, are still 
 suspicious, and dubious about their access to God. Let him 
 no longer see in us the spirit of slaves, but the spirit of sons. 
 Our right of entrance is settled for ever. " Cast not away 
 therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of 
 reward." With an unfaltering step, let us draw nigh to God. iid). x. 35. 
 Christ is our introduction. In no single approach let us forget, 
 that in Him we have boldness, and confidence of access. 
 
 We should freely allow the purpose of God, in Christ 
 Jesus, to embrace us, and enter into joyful co-operation with 
 His Spirit, that we may be made meet for our Inheritance. 
 He has surely given us proof enough that " His delights are 
 with the children of men." Let us implicitly rest in His 
 affections, " and boldly say. The Lord is our Helper." 
 Returning angels are not more welcome to their own heaven, 
 than fallen men to the arms of Grace. 
 
 The confidence of our hope in Christ receives additional The sufferings 
 warranty, from the experience in life and in death of great °[e^our''gaii^. 
 multitudes ; from the blood of the martyrs ; and from the tribu- 
 lations of the men, who were eye-witnesses of His glory. 
 Paul charged his friends not to be disheartened by his sufferings 
 for them, but to look upon his joyfulness therein, as an argu- 
 ment for the greatness and preciousness of their hope. 
 
V. 
 
 ANOTHER PRAYER FOR THE STRENGTHENING AND ENLARGEMENT 
 OF BELIEVERS. CHAP. III. 1 4" 1 9. 
 
 Chap. hi. 14-19. — For this cause I boiv my knees 
 unto the Father of otir Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Of Whom 
 every family in heaven and earth is 7iamed, 16 That He 
 would grant you according to the riches of His Glory, to 
 be strcngthoied with might by His Spirit in the i?mer 
 Dian ; 1 7 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, 
 — you having been rooted and grounded in love, 18 That 
 you may be able to conipreJiend with all saints ivJiat is 
 the breadth, and length, and depth, and JieigJit, 19. And 
 to knozv the love of Christ, whicJi passeth knoivledge, 
 that you may be filled tmto all the fulness of God. 
 
 It does not require any special faith or courage to ask a 
 Father to bless His own children. "You are no more strangers 
 and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the 
 household of God," built into the Living Foundation, and grow- 
 ing unto a temple-kingdom in the Lord. By His own unsolicited 
 grace, God has given to fallen men eternal sonship in His Son. 
 And having raised them to this distinction, they are entitled to 
 whatever His Spirit can do for them. "If you know how to 
 give good gifts to your children, /lozu inuc/i more shall your 
 Matt. vii. II. heavenly Father give good things to His children." Paul felt 
 great liberty, therefore, in asking that his fellow heirs might 
 become noble-minded and glorious characters. The more 
 gifted and excellent they become, the more will the Father 
 be glorified in them. 
 Tiie Root of Before we come to the substance of the prayer, we are called 
 
 hoo?"^^^" ^^ contemplate God as the root and ground of all fatherhood. 
 Of all fathers in heaven and earth He is the Father. 
 
Heaven and Earth. 107 
 
 The stream of fatherhood leads up your thoughts to the 
 source of fatherhood. You cannot think of a flowing stream, 
 without also thinkintr of its oricrin and source. You cannot 
 think of a branch, without thinking of its root. You cannot 
 think of an Eternal Nature, as separate from His own Pro- 
 cession, or Only Begotten Son. And how could the Son of 
 the Infinitely prolific Ground, or Father, be anything but the 
 Beginning and Fountain of innumerable fathers of families ? 
 
 " The whole family in heaven and earth'' We often speak jjeavcn and 
 of the universe under the two great divisions of material and Karth. 
 spiritual. The Bible never does this. It often joins " Heaven 
 and earth" together, never Heaven and hell. But our dis- 
 tinction of material and spiritual, classes Heaven and hell 
 together under one head, and the material creation under the 
 opposite head. Whereas the separation between the spiritual 
 and the spiritual, is far wuder than between the spiritual and 
 the material. The earth is far less at variance with the world 
 of spirits, than the world of spirits is with itself Heaven 
 loves the earth, and carries it in her arms; but there is no such 
 relation between Heaven and hell. Yet both Heaven and 
 hell are spiritual. We must not then look upon matter as 
 essentially at enmity against spirit. Matter may become an 
 instrument of enmity, but it may also be, as it often is, a meek 
 vessel and medium for Heaven's own life. The purest and 
 noblest spirits in Heaven desire to enter into the closest and 
 most friendly relationship with men on the earth. No intimacy 
 can be sweeter than that between angels and men. It is like 
 the intimacy of fragrance with the flower from which it breathes, 
 or the intimacy of music with the harp, or that of soul and 
 body. In the patient, loving, unobtrusive services which angels 
 render to men, there is something very genial and family-like. 
 They treat us as relatives, drawing near to us in our trials; and 
 standing at the gates of death, they receive us with sisterl)', 
 motherly tenderness. But between angels and angels, instead 
 of fellowship, there is mutual resistance, instead of neighbourly 
 service, war. Heaven keeps watch over the earth, as over its 
 nursery, but over hell, as over its enemy. 
 
io8 
 
 Incomprehensible. 
 
 Greatness of 
 Heaven, — 
 
 incomprehen- 
 sible. 
 
 Traca iraTpia. 
 
 The day hastens, when the earth will melt into perfect 
 unity with Heaven, under the fervent heat of its descending 
 glory, and redeemed men will come into open communion with 
 their angfel-friends. "In a moment, in the twinklino- of an 
 eye," we are told, the men in Christ of the last generation will 
 undergo their celestial transmutation. 
 
 " The wJiole fa7nily in Heaven " is altogether too great and 
 manifold for our imagination. Compared with some of her 
 sister planets, the earth is a very little thing ; but ten thousand 
 solar-systems are as nothing compared with the mansions of 
 Heaven. If the visible heavens are a countless host, who can 
 speak of the elder and purer Heavenlies ? The Heavens, 
 which are sunned by the Face of God, not only comprehend 
 the visible heavens, but all space. This celestial sphere, includ- 
 ing its innumerable systems of angel-worlds, however distant 
 and remote from each other, constitutes our Father's House. 
 
 We must not suppose that God has any children in Heaven, 
 or earth, who can comprehend the unity of His whole kingdom. 
 Ages, and ages again, and cycles of ages, must elapse before 
 certain branches will be brought into communication with 
 other branches of the Divine family. God only knows all the 
 distinct king^doms and races of His household. "He calleth 
 them all by names." If but a few of the kingdoms of the 
 angels could be made to pass before us, the variety would only 
 confuse us. Moreover, the power and glory of some of the 
 higher and purer heavens would be too awful for us. The 
 countless orders of God's House, and their distinctions, are a 
 manifestation in part of His own Infinite nature. 
 
 If, instead of " the whole family in Heaven and earth," we 
 read every family in Heaven and earth, the partition or dis- 
 tinction between the different races and orders of God's chil- 
 dren is at once suggested, riaffa -rar^/a, without an article, can 
 scarcely be translated " the whole family." The children of 
 God consist of multitudes of races ; and the word crar^/a implies 
 that every distinct race has its own creaturely head, or father. 
 A crar^/oc is a patcmal descent, a race, derived from one head, 
 as the human race from Adam. The people of Israel were 
 
Sacredness of family relationship. 109 
 
 carefully classified according to the house of their fathers. (See 
 Num. xxvi.) We have every reason to suppose that the same 
 rule obtains in the Heavenlies. The angels under Michael, not 
 only constitute a great and powerful angelic kingdom, but we are 
 taught to regard them as " his angels T In other words, his 
 kingdom is strictly a paternity. Gabriel is another prince- 
 angel, or head of a race. It is only consistent to suppose that 
 the universal family of the Almighty Father is composed of 
 fathers and their children. The angelic creatures, which are 
 spoken of under the titles of Thrones, Principalities, Dominions, 
 &c., are surely fatherly heads of distinct races of angels. 
 And this law explains how it was that the apostacy of the 
 Archangel Satan was the apostacy of his whole order, — " Satan 
 a7id his angels y 
 
 Monarchical-paternal government is universal. No other 
 form of government would represent God, nor would any 
 other be concentric and harmonic with His government. 
 That which is central to all, namely, the Fatherhood of God, 
 repeats itself throughout all orderly creations. 
 
 If this were not the law of God's whole creation, the gene- 
 rations of Heaven and earth could with no propriety be called 
 " GWQvy palernily in Heaven and earth." The eternal Father 
 is represented by innumerable fathers ; and every kingdom of 
 every governmental father derives its name from a distinction 
 which he inherits from the Father of All. Every race, whether 
 in Heaven or on earth, brings into manifestation some new 
 principle, affection, or aspect of the Divine Nature. Families 
 are not isolated individuals, but the descendants of their fathers, 
 and therefore essentially members one of another : God Him- 
 self being the Father of all the families of the universe. 
 
 What can be more interesting than to contemplate the 
 intelligent universe, as consisting of endlessly multiplied bonds 
 of fatherhood and childhood ; and all these held in the stronof 
 unity of One Divine Fatherhood and one Divine Sonship } 
 
 Family relationship is therefore a very sacred thing. Its 
 root being not in the creation, but in God. And though we Sacredness of 
 shall not find on earth any development worthy of its holy root, ghlp^^ relation- 
 
no 
 
 Heart-solace. 
 
 Heart-solace. 
 
 Gen. XXV. 8. 
 
 Babes. 
 
 nevertheless, the flower which fills the world with choicest 
 fragrance is family affection. It is capable of becoming most 
 heavenly, since the Eternal Father is Himself the spring of 
 parental, as His Eternal Son is of filial love. Therefore, also, 
 family affections are capable of ceaseless cultivation. There is 
 nothing to hinder family love from becoming evermore deeper, 
 stronger, and lovelier. If it be so strong and so precious 
 among fallen creatures, what must it be among the perfect ? 
 If family life on the earth gives rise, as it often does, to a very 
 paradise of courtesies and tender sanctities, what must family 
 life be in the immediate Presence, and under the direct influence, 
 of the Infinite Father and His Only Begotten Son ? Christian 
 parents and their children should know, therefore, that in their 
 families they have not a litde world, but a little heaven to 
 cultivate. Their families derive their distinctions and peculiar- 
 ities from relations in the Godhead. Their families have not 
 only names in time, but in eternity. Every family in Christ 
 is named according to its distinction, as a manifestation of a 
 corresponding variety in the Divine Nature. 
 
 What a solace to otir hearts is the assurance, that we shall 
 never cease to be members of a family ! The perfection of 
 the great heavenly household is that it is a Household of 
 households. We are born into a family, we grow up in a family, 
 we die in a family, and after death, we shall not simply go into 
 the great heaven, but to our own family, in our Father's 
 House. " Abraham gave up the ghost and was gathered to 
 his peopled " Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace," God 
 had said to him. All in heaven will not know us, but otir ozvn 
 people will know us. We shall go to them. 
 
 We are but babes in the Household of God ; and moreover, 
 we are in a very humble part of His House, rather in an ad- 
 joining house than in the very House. But we are loved as 
 babes, by our numerous kindred ; and quite as much by our 
 own in heaven, as by our own on earth. The sweet affections 
 of our heavenly kindred are ever seeking to reveal themselves 
 in our hearts. What are our family altars, but means of com- 
 munication between families on earth, and families in heaven ! 
 
The Prayer. 1 1 1 
 
 They unite with us in saying, " Our Father." And in the joy 
 of our fellowship with Him, and with His Son Jesus Christ, 
 they joy with us. 
 
 But the members of families on the earth should see to it, 
 that they are members of the Household of God. Let there a personal 
 be no doubt touching their union with Christ, the First-born i"^i"i'"y- 
 Son. Let them have clear evidences that they are born again, 
 and partakers of Divine Nature. Members of Christian 
 families, who are not personally in Christ, should lay it to heart 
 that they are not as yet members of any heavenly household ; 
 and that they will be separated from their own families, unless 
 they enter in at the door of grace, while they may. Has the door 
 been open to you in vain ? You have been resting in the 
 affections of your parents and enjoying the comforts of their 
 house ; but are you with them in Christ, and members with 
 them of their Eternal family ? 
 
 In most families of grown up sons and daughters, a great 
 triumph remains to be achieved, in a spirit of real unity, and a 
 play of freedom between parents and children, and children 
 and parents. The distinction is so broad between the con- 
 ditions of fatherhood and childhood, that a perfectly free unity 
 would not be possible between them, if God were not Himself 
 both Father and Son. But since the " One Spirit " which is 
 given equally to parents and children, is a Spirit which 
 proceedeth from the Father and the Son, not only is such a 
 unity possible, but it is already perfect, in the Spirit which 
 both parents and children receive from God. 
 
 The Old Testament closes with a reference to this subject. 
 Unity between parents and children, is spoken of as a special 
 sign of God's presence and working. So far as such unity 
 prevails, the power of Heaven prevails in the Household. 
 
 " I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Prayer. 
 after Whom every paternity in the heavens, and on the earth, 
 is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of 
 His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit, in the 
 inner man, that Christ ma)- dwell in )our hearts by faith," &c. 
 
112 A personal inquiry. 
 
 Again and again one pauses to wonder at the fulness of 
 heart, and the corresponding exaltation of mind, from which 
 this Epistle is written. " The prisoner of the Lord " evi- 
 dently labours under a flood of inspiration. He writes as one 
 breathless with haste, lest his supernatural wealth of thought 
 should go unrecorded. His prayers are as if the whole ocean 
 of Divine Love were seeking a passage through his heart. 
 
 Read again his prayer, chap. i. 15-23, and then this, iii. 
 14-21. The scope and sublimity of both are enough to strike 
 angels dumb with wonder. In reviewing the things con- 
 tained in them, we must break them up into fragments ; and 
 yet to be conscious of their compact unity and majesty, they 
 must be read as single sentences, without a pause. 
 
 Such passages as these from the pen of our apostle suggest 
 to us an interesting problem. How could he write, " I deter- 
 mined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, 
 and Him crucified," when the fact is that his writings are not 
 simply rich, but profusely rich in "the umiiifo Id wxsdiom of God." 
 
 There are two answers to this question. Paul did not say, 
 I am determined to know nothing of Jesus Christ except as 
 crucified ; but I am determined to know nothing save Jesus 
 Christ, and Him crucified. To know Christ, was the same, in 
 Paul's estimation, as knowing all the fulness of Divine wisdom 
 and knowledge. The other answer to the difficulty is that 
 Paul did not say to the Churches generally : I am resolved 
 to speak of nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified; 
 but to the Corinthian Church, he did write : " I determined 
 not to know any thing among ji'^?^, save Jesus Christ and Him 
 crucified." Doubtless this is the most moving aspect, both of 
 his own sin, and of the love of God, which you can present to 
 an awakened and distressed soul. It has brought sudden and 
 direct relief to the hearts and consciences of untold myriads. 
 But it is greatly to the discredit of converts, when they abide 
 at the beginning, and remain babes in knowledge. Every 
 worthy disciple of Christ should surely apprehend the Son of 
 God, as He was, before He came into the world, as He was, 
 before the worlds were made. He should also know Him, as 
 
An interesting problem. 113 
 
 He is now, the Glorious Centre of the heavenly world. It 
 was certainly the rule of the apostles to dwell more on the 
 resurrection of Christ than on His crucifixion. 
 
 We may be very thankful that all the churches of Paul's ^^^^ ^^- ^ 
 apostleship were not of the Corinthian order. Had they been, 
 we should never have had such epistles in the New Testament 
 as those to the Ephesians and Colossians. And Paul plainly 
 enough told the Corinthian church that it was to their reproach, 
 that, when speaking or writing to them, he could only treat of 
 the elementary knowledge of Christ and Divine things. " I 
 could not speak to you, as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even 
 as unto babes [and tyros] in Christ." You were not able 
 to receive higher truth, neither yet now are ye able. You have 
 divisions among you, and a party spirit. He even thanks 
 God that he baptized almost none of them. He never felt 
 much relation to them, nor were they greatly attached to him. 
 Many of them preferred Apollos. When with them, Paul 
 kept himself very much to himself, and would not be charge- 
 able to any of them. He took freely from other churches, 
 because he would receive nothing from the Corinthians. 
 Their low estimate of him compelled him to what he calls a 
 line of folly, namely, to magnify his own apostleship, and to 
 boast of his revelation and labours. 
 
 The Corinthians were not only carnal and crude in their 
 knowledge, but clearly mistaken as to the very nature and 
 character of salvation. Judged of, according to the low stan- 
 dard of ordinary morality, they were a very disreputable 
 church. They had abominable vices among them, and no 
 discipline. Even at the Lord's table they were disorderly, and 
 gave sad evidence of impurity, coarseness of character, and 
 want of reverence. 
 
 Paul might well say that towards the Corinthians he would 
 practise reserve as to the sublimer things of our faith. 
 
 I have no doubt that not only in the Corinthian church, 
 but in the Church in general, low views of Christ, and sen- 
 suality and worldliness of life, will be found together. 
 
1 14 The strength of immortality. 
 
 1. The prayer now before us reveals God's purpose to feed 
 the inner man with immortal strength. 
 
 2. This strength of Immortality is Christ in the heart. 
 
 3. Christ in the soul is not only the fountain of Eternal 
 life, but the spring of all Divine knowledge. 
 
 4. The Christ-germ sown in the soul will develope, and 
 develope, until we are filled up to a correspondence with " the 
 fulness of God." 
 
 It did not accord with the inspiration given to our Apostle 
 that he should simply pray the Father that we may be strength- 
 ened by the might of His Spirit; but he must needs ask Him, to 
 build up His might in us, " accoi'-ding to the riches of His Glory!' 
 It was less Paul praying than the Spirit of Christ praying in 
 him. Unless he had been God-moved, he would have felt 
 that such a prayer was too presumptuous to come from any 
 creature's mouth. But the Spirit knoweth all things, yea, even 
 the deep things of God. 
 
 For a time, the strength of temporal nature and the strength 
 of God dwell together in the soul, not in harmony, but in strife. 
 But the strength of nature must decrease and the strength of 
 God increase, until we possess no other might than that of 
 His Spirit in us. The might of nature has been utterly broken 
 and vanquished in the death of Christ, that the Power of God, 
 " according to the riches of His Glory," may fill Him, for us. 
 He, as our Head, is " declared to be the Son of God with 
 power, by His resurrection from the dead." The. inner man, 
 strengthened by the might of His glory, is prepared for the 
 indwelling of God. 
 The inner man Under the robust health of the outer man, the inner man 
 
 lost in the often lies in the weakness of death. Natural men have no 
 ouerman. knowledore of the inner man. The real man, which Christ 
 comes to seek and to save, is lost in the outer man. His 
 spiritual understanding is quenched in his natural understand- 
 ing, and the Divine Love is cold and dead in his natural love. 
 The Last Adam is a Life-giving Spirit. Christ inspeaks His 
 Life into the inner man, and raises him from the dead. 
 '?■^mm'tali^ Strengthened by this might, we are superior to temptation ; 
 
Christ, the power of God. \ \ 5 
 
 we are tranquil under the sorest trials ; and in death itself, we 
 are above the reach of death. It is the strength by which' the 
 immortals live. It is the Spirit of "The Lord of Glory" 
 infused (e/j -rh^i hu a^d^urov) into the man that is within. As 
 unperceived as the strength of the sun entering into the heart 
 of the forest, Christ feeds the inner man of those who love 
 Him, with the might of His glory. Blessed is the man, in 
 whom death shall find this glorious might. What aileth thee, 
 Death, that thou openest right and left, and makest a way,' 
 that man may pass through thee to the immortals ? 
 
 All the riches of the Father's Glory in Christ Jesus are The supply, 
 riches of might for the inner man of believers. The supply is 
 infinite. Man is for God. God is for man. Let us not, there- 
 fore, be afraid to discover our need. We should rather pray 
 that we may know how immense are our capacities for the riches 
 of God. Whole firmaments of glorious power are incessantly 
 poured through the Man Christ Jesus, and waiting to be drawn 
 down into the souls of men. " Open thy mouth wide ; I will 
 fill it." " Praise ye the Lord. Praise Him in the Firmament 
 of His Power." 
 
 The Power for which Paul prayed is earnestly bent on it descends 
 coming down, and possessing the earth. The desire of Christ to desiie^'^''^ 
 dwell in the souls of men is not less than was His desire to come 
 in the flesh, and His desire impresses the whole atmosphere of 
 heav-en with a tendency man-wards. Christ and heaven are 
 one in longing to deliver man from the vanity and misery into 
 which he has fallen, and to fill him with glory and power. 
 
 Unfeigned penitence presents a great attraction to this Attract it. 
 sweet power. " Thus saith the High and Lofty One that 
 inhabiteth eternity. Whose Name is Holy ; I dwell in the high 
 and holy place ;" " with him also that is of a contrite and 
 humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive 
 the heart of the contrite ones." Happy the soul that has an isa. hii. 15. 
 habitual yearning to die to all sin : a strong current of Divine 
 Power is ever flowing towards that soul. 
 
 TAe Poivcr is Christ. — " That Christ may dwell in }-our Christ, the 
 hearts by faith." There is no other " spirit of might " for men P°^^"of God. 
 
1 1 6 Love is fait lis root, or living heart. 
 
 than the Spirit of Christ. " To this end Christ both died and 
 rose and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead 
 and hving." For only as He reigns in men can men reign in 
 life. Apart from the Son of God, there is no power of endless 
 life. Endlessness of life can only be in the unity of Powers 
 which from eternity to eternity is generated in God from God. 
 And this unity of all Powers is strictly The Son of God. 
 The only Let US examine our faith in Christ by this test. Does He 
 
 saving ai . (j^g|j jj^ ^g \^y q^j- fg^i^h j> If He does not, our faith is vain. 
 
 It will not benefit us to call Him Lord, Lord, if He does not 
 rule as Lord over the inner man. He is truly the Saviour of 
 men ; but He has no other way of saving men than by acquir- 
 ing whole and sole dominion in the house of the soul. If 
 another spirit of life than His reigns within us, we may call 
 Him Saviour, but He is not our Saviour. The only salvation 
 which we want is salvation from the spirit of our own life, for 
 we are only exposed to hell, because another spirit than that 
 of God's Only Son prevails in us, and no one can live in 
 Heaven, unless the Son of God be his life. " He that hath 
 the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God 
 I jno. V. 12, hath not life." He is God's only Seed. Except in Him, and by 
 Him, perfect human nature is an impossibility. To be saved 
 and to be made partakers of perfect human nature are the 
 same thing. 
 Love is faith's If Christ dwell in our hearts, we shall be ^'rooted and 
 
 >^'^!!-'f°'^ '^"^^ grounded in Lover The one eternal root and ground of the 
 Divine Nature must be rooted and grounded in every child 
 and heir of God. God is Love. Faith which has not the 
 living love of God for its root, is dead and inoperative ; it 
 leaves the soul in its old nature, unrenewed, and therefore 
 unsaved. There is a faith which resembles carved work, 
 definite, of goodly proportions, always alike, and consistent ; 
 but such faith serves no other purpose than to assert its own 
 correctness. Such faith has no more power to root and ground 
 the inner man in the life of God's Love, than the carved work 
 of our churches has power to grow. If Christ dwell in our 
 hearts, by faith, our faith will be a most real life, and our life 
 
 heart. 
 
Perception springs from Love. 117 
 
 an everlasting spring. It is impossible that the all-creating 
 Word should dwell in the soul, and not impart to it the prolific 
 power of Divine Love. 
 
 From Divine Love, as the root and ground of the soul's life. Perception 
 comes all spiritual perception. I say spiritual, as distinct from Lover ^°^ 
 intellectual, perception. Paul says : You will not be able to 
 comprehend the love of Christ, unless you are first rooted and 
 grounded in it. A spiritual understanding is the opened flower 
 of the Divine Love-root. Light is Love's first-born child. 
 Before one can enjoy the light of the world, he must be born 
 of the world's love. And before we can be " light in the 
 Lord," we must be " in the Lord," having a root and ground 
 in us derived from Himself Any such knowledge as the 
 natural understanding is capable of deriving from the words 
 of Scripture is by no means spiritual knowledge. In order to 
 spiritual knowledge, the light of the knowledge of the glory 
 of God in the face of Jesus Christ, must as really shine 
 into our hearts, as, in order to behold objects of nature, 
 the light of the sun must shine into our eyes. If " Christ 
 dwell in your hearts by faith," you will be "rooted and grounded 
 in Love," and as a consequence, you will be able to comprehend 
 spiritual things. A noble passage from the Philippians should 
 be quoted here. "God is my witness how greatly I long after 
 you all in the [motherly] affections of Jesus Christ." ['Ev 
 ercXayxvoK; fitly and Strikingly expresses the fervour and the 
 tenderness of Christ's Love, and of Paul's, in Christ. On these 
 words, 'El/ cr:'/.dyyjrjig 'i?]ffOLi Xpisrov, Beugel remarks : Not Paul, but 
 Jesus Christ lives in Paul ; wherefore Paul is not moved in the 
 bowels of Paul, but of Jesus Christ.] " And this I pray, that 
 your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge 
 [si/ l-TTiyvusiij and in all perception [cra/r/j di(rt)f,«si'^ ; that you may 
 distinguish the things which transcend." ['E/c to doxi/j^d^nv i/xdg ra 
 liafipo^rai] Lovc, then, according to our Aposde, is the ground Phil. i. 8-10. 
 and mother of the perceptive faculty. Without fire there can 
 be no effulgence, or radiance. As is the fire, will be the 
 radiance. The source of mental illumination is the Son of 
 God in the heart. It was surely inspiration which moved 
 Paul to pray that his friends might be rooted and grounded 
 
ii8 Fellowship with '' all saints'' in God's love. 
 
 in love, in order that they might be able to comprehend the 
 mysteries of their faith ; but it was also pure philosophy. This 
 I pray, that more and yet more you may abound in the spirit 
 of love ; that you may advance unto the full recognition and 
 discernment of Heavenly things. " Love is the key which 
 opens all the secrets of faith." 
 
 That "the Son of God's Love," is declared to be "the Light 
 of men," is the revelation of an essential law, of a universal 
 law. Every child of God carries in his heart his Father's 
 Love, and in his mind the " marvellous light." 
 "Fellowship As a Sou of God he is in sympathy "with all saints," and 
 
 Saints" in ^^^ merely with the saints of his own Church. The old limits 
 God's Love, of his affections are broken up, and he sees afar off If, instead 
 of walking in the breadth of his Father's Love, he walks in the 
 enclosure of his own party, he certainly will not comprehend 
 what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of his 
 Father's Love. He must love ''all saints," seek fellowship 
 " with all saints," and be willing to learn of ''all saints," or he 
 will never find the way out of his narrow places into the love 
 of Christ, " the breadth of which " is broader than every form 
 and phase of redeemed humanity. " The length " is longer 
 than all the ages and generations of men. " The depth " is 
 deeper than the depth of our fall. Its height is the height of 
 His whole Church, which runs up through all the heavens and 
 above the heavens. But we must not suppose that even the 
 breadth, and length, and depth, and height of human redemption 
 are the measure of God's Love. It is broader than the universe, 
 it is longer than all the generations of the angels who were 
 before men, it is deeper than Hell, it is higher than the 
 highest heavens. It " passeth knowledge." 
 
 How far then any one section of the Church must be from 
 representing " the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, 
 of the love of Christ." We should take heed, therefore, that 
 our knowledge be not derived from any one division of the 
 Church. We must not suffer Catholicism, so called, to 
 deceive us, nor Protestantism to imprison us. The Church is 
 divided, but the Son of God is One. For Christ's sake, we 
 must not suffer our affections and sympathies to be shut up 
 
God's love will carry us beyond all past experience. 1 19 
 
 within any one nation, or Church. No Church, known among 
 men, includes "all saints." We must be fellow citizens of "all 
 saints," learning and gathering something from them all, as 
 pupils of Christ. Let us by all means be members of some one 
 congregation, and call it "our own Church," if we wish; but let 
 us not sacrifice the greater privilege of being members of the 
 universal Church. Let us love Christ's Church, of which 
 " our own Church " is but one branch. All the Churches 
 have something to give us, and something which we need, to 
 increase our knowledge of "the love of Christ." The royal 
 law of love, — love to God and love to man, opens to us the 
 direct path to universal perception. Let us lay aside our pre- 
 judices. They are barriers across the path of our progress. 
 Only as we come into unity with " all saints," can we find, or 
 realise, our own completeness. Why should we cut ourselves 
 off from the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of 
 our inheritance ? If we are Christ's, all things which all the 
 Churches have, are ours. When Paul and Apollos, and 
 Cephas, and all Churches, east and west, have enriched us 
 with whatever they possess, there will still remain in Christ, 
 worlds of unappropriated wisdom and love. 
 
 The Apostle prays that we may be carried beyond the past The love of 
 experience of all Saints, even until we are ''filled tuito all the Jj^fJeyond ^7 
 fulness of God.'' The fulness of the whole Church is but as past ex- 
 the confluence of a few streams, compared with the ocean of p^"^"*^^- 
 God's fulness. Nothing will satisfy the ardour of the Great 
 Father's Love, short of each child being filled up to a fulness 
 corresponding with His own. Each may embody the variety 
 of the Divine Nature, with endless distinctions in measure, 
 and manner. The divine virtues and affections may be in each, 
 and yet each perfectly distinct from every other creature, in 
 experience, service, and manifestation. To this end, the 
 Spirit of Christ, in Whom all fulness dwells, is given to every 
 child of God, for his enlargement, that he may be ever richer 
 in goodness, in wisdom, in strength, and in every virtue. 
 Clearly, we can only be brought into communion " with all 
 the fulness of God," by being ourselves made in little what 
 He is without measure. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE DOXOLOGY. CHAP. HI. 20-2I. 
 
 CHAP. ni. 20-21. — Now unto Him that is able to do 
 superabundantly beyond all things, that we ask, or 
 think, according to the Power that is working in us, 
 21 Unto Him be glojy in the Church, in Christ Jesus, 
 U7ito all the generatiojis of the age of ages. A men. 
 
 Thought is 
 bold, but not 
 bold enough. 
 
 Lest we should charge him with extravagance, in praying 
 for things unattainable, Paul hastens to transfer our thoughts, 
 both from ourselves, and himself, to " the Power that is 
 working in us." With men, the things for which he has 
 prayed, are impossible, but with God all things are possible. 
 If God is working in us, and if it be His purpose, after death, 
 still to work in us, each one of us must have a perfection in 
 prospect, which it is not in our power to conceive. So far 
 from having asked greater things, than can be fulfilled, Paul 
 asserts that what God will do in us, and for us, exceeds every 
 thing we can express, or imagine. 
 
 We can ask great things ; we can think greater things ; but 
 the greatness and glory of God require Him to exceed all our 
 thoughts. We often pass judgment on the thoughts which 
 flit through us, as being too bold and presumptuous to be 
 uttered in prayer. Our thoughts are too daring for our faith. 
 Our Lord, who knows the purpose of His Father, complains 
 of the littleness of our faith. " O ye of litde faith." " How 
 long shall I be with you ?" The possibilities of our souls are 
 exceedingly beyond anything that we ever admit to ourselves. 
 The soul has every sensuous power in herself and can be at 
 one with the whole outer universe ; the soul has every spiritual 
 power in herself, and she can be at one with all angels and 
 
Thought is bold, but not bold enough. 1 2 1 
 
 heavens ; the soul has deeper powers still, and she can be at one 
 with God. The soul is the epitome and mirror of all things. We 
 readily consent to the humiliation of being captives in mortal 
 flesh, for we know not ourselves. We are slow to believe 
 that we are susceptible of a very transcendent expansion, and 
 glorification. But the work of the Divine Power in us will not 
 only exceed, but abundantly exceed, all that we are able to 
 think. Through a depressing, bitter sense of unworthiness, 
 our prayers are timid ; our very thoughts are under bondage 
 to the present degraded form of our nature. Our noblest con- 
 ceptions are impregnated and hampered by the gross elements 
 under which we have fallen. To come into this life is to die 
 so great a death, that we have no hope of the recovery of our 
 diviner senses, until we die once more. But in this living 
 death into which we have come, and which we mistake for life, 
 God allows not His purpose to be quenched. Nature presents 
 to us no pattern of the substance and the powers of our future 
 nature. Unless we can conceive the form and majesty of the 
 Man Christ Jesus, in heaven, we cannot anticipate what we 
 shall be, when He presents us, in His own image, to the 
 Father. In the tabernacle of our mortal body we are incapable 
 of the glory of God : therefore, we are, as it were, annihilated 
 in death, that we may come as sons of God to the divine form 
 of our being. For the same reason, nature herself is ad- 
 vancing to the day of her dissolution, that she also may 
 recover her long lost unity and peace. And the heavenly 
 regions themselves are undergoing, and will yet undergo, con- 
 siderable modifications that they may be more capable of 
 reflecting the perfectness of God. There is no heaven as yet, 
 the glory of which is comparable to that unity of glory which 
 meets and shines in Jesus Christ. This is the pattern to 
 which the Power, that worketh in us, will assimilate us. 
 Hitherto, no creatures have been filled up into a correspondence 
 with " all the fulness of God." But this is precisely the eternal 
 purpose which He is now accomplishing by His Son. Spring 
 has its beauty, and summer its glory, but God's full idea is not 
 realised till harvest. 
 
122 Divine Power offers no violence to our freedom. 
 
 Weare hidden Our final harvcst in the kingdom of God is too full and 
 from our- glorious to becomc an idea. The shadowy forms of thought, 
 presented to us, rather disguise than reveal the future. God 
 will work out His own thoughts, not ours. He will not only 
 answer our desires in full, but both make us, and give us, what 
 has never "entered into the heart of man." Only by suc- 
 cessive transformations, and the exaltation of our powers 
 beyond every thing that we think possible, will God be able 
 to reveal to us His Glory, and qualify us for fellowship with 
 His own manifoldness. 
 
 We have floating thoughts of our future inheritance, but 
 they are very indefinite. How can the caterpillar, while a 
 caterpillar, imagine its winged and aerial condition ? While 
 subject to " this earthy," our ideas must needs be very vague 
 concerning things, which Paul, having seen and heard, was not 
 able to speak. But " the Hope set before us," is beyond any- 
 thing which St Paul saw in vision. Our Saviour-King is 
 preparing both a sphere, and a condition, of glory for us, 
 transcending any present heaven. 
 
 His Power which is working in us is the germinating 
 principle of our future humanity. He is Perfect Man, repre- 
 senting in Himself all the Fulness of God, and He will not 
 rest from His works in us, until, in our measure, we are like 
 Him. Then, from an inwrought resemblance of nature, we 
 shall see Him as He is. 
 Pivine Power The Power that is at work in us offers no violence to our 
 offers no independence of action. It brincrs forth the powers and pecu- 
 
 violence to our ,. .i. . , , -i i i • i i- i r i 
 
 Freedom. liaritics of each soul as silently, and with as little torce, as the 
 flowers of spring are opened from their roots. Under the 
 inward pulse and persuasion of the Great Father's love-power, 
 we leave behind us our sins, one after another. Our foolish 
 thoughts, our hard littleness, and our unloveliness are taken 
 from us in the same way. We outgrow ourselves, and yet at 
 every moment we are ourselves ; and certainly no less our- 
 selves because we are putting on Christ, and becoming new 
 creatures. When the sweet Power works with the co- 
 operating harmony of our own will, it " works in us mightily." 
 
God's glory, sure in Christ. 1 23 
 
 Where it finds carnality and unbelief it can do no mighty 
 works. If it be entirely resisted, it complains : " I would, but 
 ye would not." " O that thou hadst known," &c., &c. No 
 one can be transformed and glorified but through the con- 
 senting action of his own will and affections. 
 
 Are we in unity with this Holy Power ? Is it penetrating 
 us ? Does it stir our lowest depths ? Is it 2i power in us, and 
 the prevailing power ? Or has another power the mastery 
 over us ? By a mystery of subtlety, and by the warmest 
 friendliness with our own will, another power seeks to with- 
 draw us from co-operating with the Power of Christ. It is 
 perfectly horrible to hell, that we should be conformed to the 
 Divine Image which they have lost. Whether we know it or 
 not, they know full well, that if we yield to the Jesus-power 
 which is working in us, we shall acquire the standing and con- 
 dition from which they have fallen. We have already intimated 
 that there are good reasons for supposing that the highest 
 heaven is vacant, by the fall of " Satan and his angels." If the 
 fallen ones were God's first-born, and of all His angels, the 
 chief, their incredible " rule, authority, and power," would in 
 some degree be accounted for. One thing is certain, the Son 
 of God is peopling, [if not repeopling,] the highest heaven. 
 " The Body of Christ," which is being redeemed and organized, 
 is essential to God's glory, and to the stability and complete- 
 ness of the angelic heavens. 
 
 Those, and those only can give the Eternal Father His God's Glory, 
 true glory, who know and love His redemption in Christ 
 Jesus ! " Unto Him be glory in the Church, in Christ Jcsils^ 
 The Church is the seed-field of the Glory of God. Christ has 
 sown Himself in this field. By " the Church " we do not mean 
 any organization that is so called among men ; but every 
 human soul, who consents to the dominion and control of the 
 Son of God. All men who receive Him, and reflect Him, in 
 that measure, glorify God. Not in ourselves, but in Christ 
 Jesus, we become one with God, and like God. Oil and water 
 cannot be made one, without a medium : how much less God 
 and fallen souls! "Christ, the Power of God," is the . sole 
 
124 The fittttre great er than can be reveated. 
 
 Power that can make us divine sons. And all the glory, in 
 which we shall ever shine, will be just so much of His Glory as 
 we appropriate. Though His, it will be our very own, for He 
 hath a delight in being the Life and spring of our souls. The 
 Life which He gives to us is more intensely His, for we only 
 own ourselves in Him. In and of ourselves, we have no more 
 means of glorifying God, than has the earth of making a 
 summer without the sun. Neither angels nor men can give 
 God any glory which He has not first given them. " The 
 glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." Infinitely 
 " The Father loveth His Son." And with the same love He 
 loves the generation of His Son. " Thou hast loved them, as 
 Thou hast loved Me." What must be the Father's joy, to see 
 the glory of His Son rising upon innumerable souls, who "were 
 darkness," — rising upon them in a twofold manner,^ — from Him 
 as their Sun without them, and from Him as the Life within 
 them. No beam of glory, given to us, will ever be in any way 
 divided, or diverted, from either the Father, or His Son. It 
 remains eternally immanent in Him and in us. Christ and the 
 Church can no more be divided, than God and Christ. God's 
 glory is not hazardous, as it was in His first heaven, and after- 
 wards in Paradise ; but sure and steadfast to eternity. 
 The Future The whole Church of Christ, embracing as it does all past 
 
 greater tha°n^ generations and all that are to come, is strictly one generation, 
 can be and pertaining to one great age. Unto the Father " be glory 
 
 in the Church, in Christ Jesus, unto all the generations of the 
 Age of ages. Amen!" Christ's Age is the Age of ages. It 
 brings us back to the Everlasting Age. Paul's £/'? rraeav rag 
 yiviug roD aiuvog tmv aiuivuv, stops our breath. It sets too much 
 before us. A babe's hand might sooner grasp Orion, Pleiades, 
 and the chambers of the South, than we survey "all the 
 generations " of the Son of God, and the Age of ages. There 
 " are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises;" 
 but in these promises God has not departed from His rule of 
 reserve. It is contrary to His Nature to make the most of 
 any thing. " It is the glory of God to conceal a thing." It is 
 the honour of His kingly sons to be searching it out. While it 
 
 revealed. 
 
Thefuhtre greater than can be revealed. 1 25 
 
 will be the Father's endless joy to bring forth what they looked 
 not for. In relation to our capacities, the promises are too 
 wonderful for us ; but in relation to the Great Father's purpose 
 of fulfilment, they are dim and poor. 
 
 No prophecy can be given to us, which would put us in pos- 
 session of the knowledge of our ultimate condition. Whatever 
 prophet, or angel, might communicate, would be received 
 into the present limits of our understanding, and be conceived 
 of from our present mode of being. Only as the personal 
 heaven of our new nature grows, and the glory of Christ un- 
 folds within us, can the circle of our knowledge and experience 
 expand. 
 
 If you have not yet found " the old paths," and the "good 
 way " of your Father's Glory, you should ask and seek, for 
 until you are entered on " the everlasting Way," you will find 
 no rest to your souls. If you find the Son of God, and Jer. vi. 16. 
 receive Him for your life, henceforth you will be children, and 
 heirs, of the Father's First and Last Age of Glory. Till then, 
 you are and must be the sport of the divided powers, both of 
 temporal nature, and of the fallen angels. Christ is the unity 
 of all forces. The unity must be enfolded in your soul, that 
 the sweet Power thereof may spring in you, as it springs in 
 God, for ever and ever. The Son is the Eternal Youth of the 
 Father Himself, and He has no other Eternal Youth to give 
 His children. If you knew the gift of God, and Who Christ is, 
 you would ask Him, and He would cause His Eternal unity to 
 spring in you, and thus bring you within the circle and play of 
 His own endlessness. 
 
 " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy 
 Ghost : as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, 
 world without end. Amen." 
 
VI. 
 
 SUNDRY DUTIES, QUALIFICATIONS, AND PRIVILEGES OF BELIEVERS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. to VI. 20. 
 
 Chap. iv. i, 2. — i / therefore, the prisoner of the 
 Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocatioji 
 wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meek- 
 ness, with long-snffering, forbearing one another in love. 
 
 Freedom in This prisoner has more freedom than any emperor ever 
 
 had. External freedom, with internal bonds, is but an affecta- 
 tion, and a mockery of freedom. A man flattered and 
 deceived by an ostentation of bodily freedom, while his spirit 
 is held in the heavy chains of his own lusts and fears, is as 
 melancholy a spectacle as any under the sun. The evil spirit 
 laughs to see his slave enjoying the fond delirious conceit that 
 he is a free man. The slavery is then perfect. Paul's prison 
 lies open to all heaven. In spirit, he walks at large, in 
 boundless light. The prisoner writing to those who are 
 worthy to know the secret, says : " I am surrounded by in- 
 numerable angels," I walk in paradise with " the spirits of just 
 men made perfect," I am entertained with " unspeakable 
 things." It is above eighteen years ago that he was caught 
 up into paradise, and saw and heard unspeakable things. 
 This whole epistle glows and shines with his supernatural 
 experience. Chrysostom says : " Were any to offer me my 
 choice, heaven, or Paul's chain, I would prefer the chain. 
 Were any to ask, whether he should place me on high with 
 the angels, or with Paul in his bonds, I would choose the 
 prison," According to his own showing, he was less in peril 
 in prison, than in the third heavens. As a safeguard against 
 his ecstasy, he must needs have some messenger of Satan, to 
 
meekness. 
 
 The might of meekness. 127 
 
 buffet him. His experience in Paradise, exposed him to tempta- 
 tion, insomuch that the Lord in mercy restrained him by a 
 special affliction, lest he should be carried away by the self- 
 exalting spirit. In prison he found no such temptation. His 
 bonds were a precious means of grace to him. Finding an 
 unspeakable peace in " lowliness of mind," he commends the 
 same to his brethren in Christ. 
 
 He has spoken of the exceeding height of our calling : he The might of 
 is anxious that we should have a befitting might and meekness 
 of spirit. God having called us to share the very highest 
 things with Himself, it becomes us to walk before Him in the 
 sweet majesty of His Son's lowliness. God has reserved 
 nothing to Himself, that He could give to us. He has called 
 us into the participation of His own Glory. In view of "the 
 prize of his high calling," Paul lost sight of every thing that 
 was behind him and around him. Nothing was great to 
 him, but his eternal estate, in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 To win Christ, and to be found in Him, absorbed all the 
 powers of his soul. This " high calling " is as much ours, as 
 Paul's. Christ is every man's " crown of life." To win Him is 
 to win Heaven, and every thing that is good, and pure, and true, 
 for ever. To "be found in Him" is to be found rooted and 
 grounded in the only possible eternal life. But we are warned 
 that the gate is strait, and the way narrow, which leads to 
 " the prize." " Before honour is humility." " I beseech you 
 that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called." 
 Walk suitably, namely, in the Spirit of Jesus. The love 
 which passeth knowledge is as deep as it is high. The High 
 and Lofty One is meek and lowly in heart. We shall not be 
 strong enough to wear His Glory, unless His own meekness 
 constitute our power. Not by loftiness, nor by any straining 
 of our powers, can we sustain "the hope of our calling." 
 Childlike simplicity has the promise of the kingdom. Jesus 
 of Nazareth has shewn us the spirit, and bearing, of all the 
 sons of God. " Thy king cometh to thee, meek." In no 
 other spirit than His own, can we continue in Him, or in the 
 Father. " If a man abide not in Me he is cast forth as a 
 
128 
 
 The way to Heaven. 
 
 The spirit of 
 our calling. 
 
 The way to 
 heaven. 
 
 Markix. 34, 
 35- 
 
 branch and is withered." Your vine-branch has not the 
 strength of the oak ; but you know where to look for grapes. 
 The power to make the heart of oak is not a higher power 
 but a lower, coarser power, than that which produces "the 
 fruit of the vine." The meekness of Christ is the power of 
 God. 
 
 We, therefore, no sooner cease to be " meek and lowly," 
 than we part with the spirit of our " heavenly calling." We 
 often do this. So long as our fellow-members flatter us, or 
 agree with us, they are interesting to us ; but if they put our 
 meekness, or our patience to the test, we soon divide from them, 
 and walk off in the large spirit of our self-sufficiency. Jesus 
 had another spirit. His lowliness was without measure. 
 There was no end to what He could bear from man. " Con- 
 sider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against 
 Himself" He did not dislike them, because they disliked 
 Him ; but He wept when He thought of what their dislike 
 would bring upon themselves. 
 
 The charity and mutual forbearance both of Churches and 
 church-members one towards another, are a far clearer evi- 
 dence, than any opinions that they hold, of Christ's undivided 
 love. The Church of Rome has borne a very loud witness 
 against herself She has often and vehemently testified that 
 the Spirit of Christ is not her spirit. 
 
 Any Church which assumes a lordship over other Churches 
 is sowing for herself in judgment, and will reap accordingly. 
 Let every bishop, pastor, and teacher in the service of Christ 
 Jesus, inquire what spirit they are of. It behoves them, above 
 all men, to be " meek and lowly in heart." 
 
 Our Lord took very special pains to convince His disciples 
 that nothing like the spirit and manners of earthly rulers and 
 governments would obtain in the kingdom of heaven. "It shall 
 not be so among you." " By the way they had disputed who 
 should be greatest. And He sat down and called the twelve 
 and saith unto them. If any man desire to be first, the same 
 shall be last of all and servant of all." " Jesus called a little 
 child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them and said . . . 
 
The way to Heaven. 1 29 
 
 Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is Matt, xviii. 
 greatest in the kingdom of heaven." "Whosoever will be ''4- 
 chief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of 
 man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister." And Matt. xx. 27, 
 the hour being come " that He should depart out of this world ^^' 
 
 unto the Father, He riseth from supper and laid aside 
 
 His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself. After 
 that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash His dis- 
 ciples' feet. . . . After He had washed their feet and was set 
 down again, He said ... I have given you an example," &c., 
 &c. " If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." johnxiii. 1-17. 
 After Him, the teaching of every apostle, who writes in the New 
 Testament, is that no one can rise, or be exalted, in the kingdom 
 of Christ, but by humility. " Put on, as the elect of God, humble- Coi. Hi. 12. 
 ness of mind." "Be ye clothed with humility, for God re- i Pet. v. 5. 
 sisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." " Humble James iv. 10. 
 yourselves in the sight of God, and He shall lift you up." There 
 is nothing more God-like than Humility, and nothing which 
 God loves so well, or honours so much. Satan lost his part in 
 the kingdom and the glory of God, by walking in loftiness. He 
 said in his heart, " I will exalt my throne above the stars of , 
 God." By self-exaltation he fell, and became "king over all J^^/- 3V 
 the children of pride." He is the strength of all self-will ; 
 and the spirit of haughtiness, wherever it is, is from him. On 
 the other hand, the Son of God, who is equal with the Father, 
 and the Inheritor of all His glory, has it in His heart to make 
 Himself least of all, and servant of all. Let every one who 
 names the the Name of Christ observe His path, and walk 
 therein. A different path will not lead to His Kingdom. 
 
 From everlasting He had been " the Image of the Invisible 
 God." But meekness was the Spirit of His GXoxy. He 
 coveted not His distinction. "The Form of God" stirred m 
 Him no spirit of self-glorying. All the powers and virtues 
 which the Father had in Himself hiddenly, the Son, as "the 
 Brightness of His Glory," had manifestly. As the sun has a 
 hidden ground which is the source and fountain of all his 
 glory ; such is the distinction between the Invisible Depth, and 
 
 I 
 
130 The way to Heaven. 
 
 " the Form of God." As every light has in it all the qualities 
 of the substance from which the light proceeds, in like manner 
 the Son of God is the Light in which all things that the 
 Father hath "appear and shine. But the Father being an 
 eternal meekness and humility, there is in all the glory of the 
 Only Begotten Son, the very Soul of humility. Whoever 
 would make an approach towards a conception of the meekness 
 of His Divine Glory, must admit nothing like fierceness, 
 excess, or impetuosity into his thought. Eagerness, haste, 
 and a love of display, betoken a want of balance. It is 
 probable that our natural conception of the Glory of God, 
 represents rather the ambition of Satan, than the meekness of 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
 misconceiving God's Nature and Glory, we are not prepared 
 to believe that Jesus brought Him out to view. The truth is, 
 the desire to empty Himself, to divest Himself of His Form 
 of Glory, and to make Himself of no reputation was the 
 Father's motion in His heart. He will lower Himself, and 
 still lower Himself to the uttermost. Instead of " the Form of 
 God," He will take " the form of a servant." Being in fashion as 
 a mortal man, from the humble spirit of love which is in Him 
 from the Father, He holds Himself bound to die for His 
 creatures, and to undergo death in the most humiliating form. 
 "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given 
 Him a Name which is above every name, that at the Name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those in 
 earth, and those under earth ; (or as the Rheims version renders 
 it, "of celestials, and of terrestrials, and of infernals ;") and that 
 every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the 
 Phil. ii. 3-11. glory of God the Father." Observe, " to the glory of God 
 the Father," for the voluntary humiliation of the Son, was 
 emphatically the meekness and glory of the Father. 
 
 Because the Humility of Jesus is so utterly true to the 
 Father, and so completely represents Him, He has given Him 
 a name above every name, and a throne above every throne. 
 We know the Father now, but we know Him no where save 
 in Christ. From henceforth ye know Him, and have seen 
 
Subtract blase, add sweetness. 1 3 1 
 
 Him. " He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." " Let Jno-xiv. 7-9. 
 
 this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." "If any 
 
 man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His. " Learn 
 
 of Me ; I am meek and lowly in heart." Of necessity, as 
 
 heirs of the heavenly kingdom, " the vocation wherewith we 
 
 are called " must be to walk before God, in all meekness and 
 
 lowliness, as Jesus walked. 
 
 Nations perish under the finesse, vain-glory, and heartless 
 grandeur of their wealth and pride. And in any other spirit, 
 than the humility of Christ, souls will fail of reaching the 
 glory of His presence. It is in this very connection that 
 Paul says, " My beloved, work out your own salvation with fear 
 and trembling," with trembling solicitude, lest you should 
 depart from the only spirit in which God is working to effect 
 your salvation, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Psa. li. 17. 
 " The Lord saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." " He hath Psa. xxxiv. 18. 
 respect unto the lowly." " Thus saith the high and lofty One Psa.cxxxviii.6. 
 that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell with him that is of a 
 contrite and humble spirit." " God giveth grace to the isa. ivu. 15. 
 humble." " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their's is the Mau >)! 1. 
 kino-dom of heaven." 
 
 In all probability, we shall find that our conception of From your 
 Heaven is gross and extravagant. The Divine Nature, as a ven! subtract 
 unity, is much sweeter, meeker than we imagine; and Heaven mere blaze, 
 has much more of the simplicity and repose of a real Home, sweetness. 
 than our too brilliant descriptions would lead one to suppose. 
 Our talk about its dazzling splendour is vicious and misleading. 
 "There remaineth a rest for the people of God." Not only do 
 fire and light represent God, but the humble ground and meek 
 water represent Him too. What is division, and therefore, 
 excess, in nature, is, in the Divine Nature unity, and therefore 
 mildness and peace. "He maketh me to lie down in green 
 pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters." To pass 
 from a world of vegetation and greenness, into mere shining 
 ether, would be a bitter, terrible loss. It would be less 
 human, and therefore less Divine. We shall go to a world 
 whence all vegetation springs. Heaven is surely an eternal 
 
132 The bond was broken long ago. 
 
 spring. In Paradise we shall see a greener green. The 
 flowering plants, instead of being bolder, gaudier than ours, will 
 be softer, more delicate in hue, and lovelier in form. The rose 
 and the lily of the valley will speak to us as they do now, only 
 more directly and movingly, of the love and the humility of 
 God. The angels will not rush and blaze, but meet us, and 
 talk with us in the tender grace of a divine order of fellow- 
 citizens. When you see with what meekness the new life from 
 Heaven opens every spring in our planet, think of your Divine 
 Fatherland, where, in the joy of His love, God rests with His 
 children, and His children rest with Him, and with each other. 
 
 Chap. IV. 3-6. — Endeavonring to keep the unity of 
 t}ie Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and 
 one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your 
 calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God 
 and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and 
 in you all. 
 
 The boa I was We are called to do what angels failed to do. So long as 
 o J, ^^ sons of God, in their original heavenly kingdom, kept 
 " the unity of the Spirit," the universe was comprehended in 
 an Almighty bond of Peace. To keep the Truth, and to keep 
 the unity of the Spirit, are the same thing. The Spirit is 
 Truth, and the Spirit is the unity of all things. Satan, the 
 head of a distinguished kingdom, " abode not in the Truth." 
 He and his angels broke the unity of God's Spirit. The 
 Peace of creation fled away ; the divided powers rushed into 
 strife; mischief, derangement, horror followed, on an immense 
 scale. It could not be otherwise. If the unity of the Spirit 
 was an unspeakable fulness of powers in one harmonious play 
 of joy, the breaking of that unity could bring about nothing 
 less than an awful dissolution of Divine order throughout the 
 whole kingdom. The Spirit of meekness was outraged, the 
 Lamb was slain, chaos reigned. God had to begin His creation 
 anew, or rather to restore it from its hideous enmities and 
 
 ago. 
 
The fulness of the ttnify. 133 
 
 painful disorders. That all things and creatures, which are 
 now divided and at strife, fell out of a state of unity and peace, 
 is certain. For all things were one, and in One, before they 
 became many. Having fallen out of their first estate, they are 
 to be restored again to unity. This is " the restitution of all 
 things," which God has promised since the world began. 
 Division and contrariety reign unto death, but the Spirit of 
 redemption in Christ Jesus, which is "the unity of the Spirit," 
 is reio^ning- throuo;h rio^hteousness to brings all thinsfs back to 
 harmony and eternal life. 
 
 For unknown ages before our father Adam appeared, the The patience 
 Logos had been patiently, and with all lowliness laying the ^^^^^^^ 
 beams of His chambers in the deep, and preparing to raise 
 from the chaotic floods the first forms of His ameliorative 
 series of developments. The final Rest which is the end of 
 His works will not be delayed, neither will it be unduly 
 hastened. He will observe His own order. His Patience is 
 not exhausted. His humility and reserve have been abused, 
 but His Love refuses to be discouraged. Whatever His 
 creation has lost. He has retained. The whole unity is in 
 Him ; and descending from Him into our souls, it is a Peace 
 which passeth all understanding, inasmuch as it includes the 
 Reconciliation of all things. Descending into the elements, it 
 is the efficient cause of a universal renewal. 
 
 Were all churches and church-members concerned to "keep 
 the jnity of His Spirit," a bond of Peace, strong as the ever- 
 lasting firmament, would encircle them. 
 
 But how is it possible that we should worthily conceive of The fulness of 
 the riches comprehended in " the Unity of the Spirit ?" We ' ^ ""^" 
 have seen a company of a thousand musicians and singers 
 playing and singing one tune in harmony. The persons were 
 distinct, the instruments distinct, and the voices very distinct, 
 and yet all were a composed unity. An army of a hundred 
 thousand men, in movement and operation, may be a perfect 
 unity. But in order to form an idea of the " unity of the 
 Spirit," we must imagine that the whole universe, visible and 
 invisible, with all its distinctions, elements, powers and virtues 
 
134 The joy of this tinity. 
 
 were dissolved in one sea of being. For all have sprung from 
 such a sea, and, in the Spirit, are such a Sea of living, blissful 
 Unity. Even in the sphere of striving, corrupt nature, we see 
 enough to make us wonder at the variety which the Spirit 
 carries in the bosom of His unity. For all the variety, in 
 earth and heaven, is wrought " by One and the self-same 
 Spirit," The new growths, the joy and the glory, which con- 
 stitute our summer, are so much of the fulness of the Spirit 
 opened to our view. The creatures in different elements and 
 latitudes are so distinct that they have no communion with 
 each other ; but they are all one in the Spirit which animates 
 them. The sea and its contents, the innumerable tribes of the 
 air, and all the species found on our hills and in our plains and 
 valleys, are but very partial manifestations of the wealth and 
 variety of The Spirit. The all things of The Father, and all 
 things of Creation, and the all things in Christ's finished work 
 are included in the Spirit's Unity. Pause and contemplate 
 "the river of God's pleasures," "the fulness of joy" which the 
 perfect know above. Whatever our understandings may hold 
 as truth, is but a mere division of this unity. " The unity of 
 the Spirit " is " the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus," 
 and can only be apprehended by the affections. 
 The joy of this The joy of unity must needs be as rich and full as the 
 "'^" unity. " The unsearchable riches of Christ" are its riches. He 
 
 is our Unity of good. Therefore, " He is our Peace." Were 
 we, as the true children of Jesus Christ, to walk in love as He 
 charged us, and as He loved us, the Spirit, like a glowing sea 
 of heavenly mildness, would broaden and broaden over the 
 believing world, hushing all our contentions, and dissolving 
 our divisions into His own sweet and perfect Life. In no 
 other spirit than that of Christ's universal love, shall we be 
 either able to keep " the Unity of the Spirit," or to know " the 
 Peace of God." The testimony of all the apostles is one, — 
 namely, that the Spirit of universal love is the Crown of all the 
 graces, and "the bond of perfectness." " Put on as the elect 
 >f God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humble- 
 less of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, 
 
Division how long f 135 
 
 and forgiving one another, . . . and above all these thhigs ptit 
 on Love, which is the bond of perfectness." " Add to your coi. m. 14. 
 faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, tem- 
 perance ; and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godli- 
 ness ; and to godliness, brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly 
 kindness. Love : " — the all-comprehending universal grace. ^ ^^*- ^- 5-io- 
 " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." iJohniv.i6. 
 When we " love not in word neither in tongue, but in deed 
 and in truth, hereby we know that we are of The Truths and jj°^" "'* *^' 
 shall assicre our hearts before God^ This also is the doc- 
 trine which we have just been taught by Paul's prayer, " that 
 ye may be rooted and grounded in love, that ye may know the 
 Love of Chi'ist which passeth knowledge, that ye anight be 
 filled with all the fulness of God.'' " All the fulness of God " 
 is the same thing as " the Unity of the Spirit." " The Peace 
 of God passeth all understanding," for it is the Peace of His 
 infinite Fulness. The harmonies of this Divine fulness con- 
 stitute Heaven. And in so far as we keep " the unity of the 
 Spirit," we shall taste the heavenly joy. All tempests and 
 strifes, whether in nature, or in the church, are but signs and 
 complaints that unity is lost. A feverish action set up in the 
 body, admonishes us that its unity is broken. The body 
 keeping its unity in the bond of peace, is health. Pain is but 
 a sign of the energy with which the body is labouring to expel 
 the enemy, and bring back the reign of peace. The wrath of 
 God is but the fervour of His Love seeking to overcome evil 
 with good. 
 
 As yet the divided communions of the Church are far Division how 
 enough from " the unity of the Spirit." Like fish and fowl, ^"^^ 
 we know little of each other, and as little of the peace of God. 
 We are the children of bondsmen, and bondsmen we remain. 
 We have never gone beyond the leading-strings of our 
 particular mother-church, never been weaned, and therefore 
 know nothing of the liberty into which we are called in Christ 
 Jesus. We walk between the narrow hedge-rows of our own 
 orthodoxy, fettered by the phraseology of our party. When 
 shall the trumpet of unity sound, and the walls of our religious 
 prisons fall about us ? 
 
136 The divine endeavour. 
 
 Why do the larger birds prey upon smaller ones ? the fish 
 likewise ? Is that beautiful ? Why does the lion tear the 
 lamb ? Why does he not win a victory over himself and be a 
 right noble lion ? Why do Christians assault, bite, and tear 
 each other ? Because, like the beasts, they are under their 
 own nature, and not under Christ. " All seek their own, not 
 
 Phil. ii. 21. the things which are Jesus Christ's." 
 
 A sign. The want of unity in the Church is a sign to us of the 
 
 absence of the Spirit. If the various Christian communions 
 were true to their vocation, walking " with all meekness and 
 lowliness, with longsuffering forbearing one another in love," 
 the distinctions between them might be even greater and more 
 numerous than they are, and yet they might display and enjoy 
 a very real unity. It is not our part to make the unity, but 
 to keep that which is made. The children of God are 
 one in Jesus Christ. " By One Sphdt we are all baptized into 
 Cur. xii. 13. one body; and have been all made to drink into One Spirit." 
 But we are slow of heart to yield to " the unity of the Spirit." 
 Different communions sometimes meet together in a show of 
 unity, and perhaps, for a happy hour, are carried above and 
 beyond themselves, into the broad lands of the one Spirit 
 which is common to them all ; but the first serious test finds 
 them all going their own ways, and settling down again into 
 the hardness and narrowness of their divisions. They call 
 Jesus, Lord, and straightway maintain the lordship of their 
 own thoughts, methods, peculiarities. Simple as simplicity, 
 and beautiful as beauty, and one as God is one, is the Divine 
 plan of human salvation, and unity, by Christ Jesus; but what a 
 maze of thought, and house of confusion, Christendom has 
 become, through the self-will, the zeal, and the pride of 
 partisans. 
 
 The Divine Paul fitly says : '' Eiideavourtng to keep the unity of the 
 
 endeavour. Spirit." The uuity is greater than we can understand or 
 believe. Our little minds, little hearts, and little consciences, 
 often think and feel that they ought to fight against the spirit. 
 We are not prepared to follow Heavenly and Divine leadings. 
 The idols which our understandings have conceived, and set 
 
The body of Peace. 1 37 
 
 up, are tyrants, and we are their willing slaves. But the 
 Spirit will not give up His endeavour, until the whole Church 
 represents His own unity. The moles and bats of Christendom 
 may hold on, and on, to their idolatries : but as many as are 
 led by the Spirit will grow weary of them and abandon them. 
 The people that are made ready for the Lord, must be 
 brought " into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
 Son of God." The concern for unity which at any time shows 
 itself in the Church, should be regarded with tender reverence. 
 It is the way of the Spirit. Whithersoever the Spirit is to go, 
 thither should go all the living creatures and all the wheels, 
 and all the powers of the Church. The dead will remain with 
 their dead. 
 
 The Peace of God can only be found in one body. *' Let The body ot 
 the Peace of God rule in your hearts to which you are called of p^^'^^- 
 in one body." The Body of the Son of God is One. All the Coi. iii. 15. 
 powers of God, in one Spirit of rest, dwell in this body. 
 Enduring Peace in any creature that is under the dominion of 
 this visible creation is an impossibility. If the Peace of God 
 could be found and realized, that would be proof enough that 
 the Unity of The Spirit was not broken in nature. On the 
 other hand, as there is no abiding peace in any kingdom, or 
 element of nature, we know that throughout the whole range 
 of material things the Divine unity has been violated. Under 
 the restless striving of nature's divided powers, peace is a 
 dream which soon dreams itself out. The Son of God is 
 organizing a Kingdom of Unity, which, in the end, will sup- 
 plant the present vain, corruptible and cruel constitution of 
 things. It is very unsatisfactory to God, it is a sad scene to 
 the holy angels ; it distresses man and beast. " The whole 
 Creation groaneth." The spirits of eternity, tried and con- 
 founded by long waiting, sigh, ''How lojtg, O Lord ! " 
 
 The unredeemed should look their real prospects frankly 
 in the face. So long as you consent to the dominion of 
 nature's conflicting elements and powers, you belong to the 
 great kingdom of dissolving forms. Delude not your souls 
 with the vain hope of " Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace." 
 
138 " One body' not inaterial. 
 
 Come into the House of Unity. Seek incorporation with the 
 new kingdom of The Son of God, and find in the eternal 
 harmony of God's working powers, your own Eternity of 
 Peace. 
 
 Our Apostle cannot drop this subject of unity. He opens 
 out the seven-fold oneness involved in our Heavenly calling : — 
 The fulness of Qne Body, 
 
 The Unity. _^ ^ . •{ ' 
 
 One bpirit, 
 
 One Hope of our calling. 
 
 One Lord, 
 
 One Faith, 
 
 One Baptism, 
 
 One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through 
 all, and in all. 
 
 These Seven meet together in the Church of Jesus Christ, 
 and constitute a complex, but perfect whole. The scope of 
 each of these is immense, for the greatness of the whole unity 
 attaches to each particular. The sevenfoldness meets in every 
 one of the seven. 
 "One Body," Tl\e series begins with "one body," and ends with "one 
 God and Father of all ;" for these are the two extremes, the 
 Beginning and the Ending. The body incorporates both the 
 Beginning and all the intermediate powers and conditions. It 
 is the will of God that every distinction in Himself should be 
 embodied. The body, therefore, which is His final purpose, 
 is declared to be, as we have already seen, " the fulness of 
 Him that filletji all in all.'' 
 not material. In Contemplating this body you must divest yourselves of 
 
 a material idea. What we call matter is by no means essen- 
 tial to living organisms. On the contrary, it is essential to 
 ;he reality, unity, and permanence of a body that it be 7tot 
 material. " There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial." 
 But the celestial is much more strictly a body than the 
 terrestrial. For a celestial body is incapable of decay, but an 
 earthly body soon collapses, and falls into an inorganic mass. 
 A body may be material, or psychical, or spiritual. The 
 material is the lowest and least worthy of _being called a body. 
 
" One bodyr " One Spirit r 139 
 
 Strictly speaking, matter is an apparition. It is essentially 
 deficient of the higher qualities of being, and consequently 
 cannot maintain its integrity. It is a dense vapour that 
 "appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away." * As our 
 own material body is a veil hiding another body, in like man- 
 ner, the material universe is a covering upon a more glorious 
 universe. The Sanctuary which was so constructed as to be 
 a figure of Creation, had for its outmost covering rough animal 
 skins ; but by lifting a series of coverings, you came to gold, 
 and within all, was The Divine Presence. Elisha's servant 
 seeing one morning the Syrian army close at hand, went in 
 with terror to his master ; but as soon as deeper eyes were 
 opened in him, he saw that a mightier and more glorious host 
 were between them and the enemy. Peter, James, and John 
 were permitted to see that our Lord had, within His material 
 body, a divinely luminous one, which was His true body. 
 
 We are called to become citizens of the kingdom which is 
 the inner and true body of the universe. This is the kingdom 
 of Heaven, which our Lord preached and opened to men. ^ Our 
 souls, live, move, and have their being in this inner sphere. We 
 are a part of it. 1 1 is a mother's bosom to us, in which, by and by, 
 we shall fall asleep, die, and wake again. It is our Fathers housed 
 and the image of His fulness. The redeemed body of the human 
 race will have a distinction of glory and office in. the universal 
 body; but the whole incorruptible and glorious universe is 
 ''one body." By one Spirit we are all baptized into "one 
 body;" and all the baptized "have been m^de to drink into 
 one Spirit." These words declare in the simplest possible i Cor. xii 13 
 terms, both in what salvation consists, and how it is effected. 
 Man is saved by being made anew a member of the "one 
 body," of God's true children. And he is made a member by 
 being baptized into it, and by drinking into his spirit the " One 
 Spirit " thereof. ^ Whoever shall say that any thing else is 
 necessary to salvation, speaks after man, and not after God. 
 T o raise up in the soul the life of the Son of God is the " one 
 thing needful." 
 
 We have already dwelt, at some length, on "the unity of -oneSoirit 
 
 the Spirit." ^ Onebpmt. 
 
140 ''OneHoper '' One Lord r '' One Faithr 
 
 "One Hope of Our human hope in all generations, and all over the world, 
 our calling. j^ ^j^^^ ^^ ^^^^ come liome at last ; that after the illusions and 
 delusions of our material existence have vanished, we may 
 find our inner being drawn into that heavenly circle of things, 
 which God fills and glorifies, and will fill and glorify for ever. 
 Not only all men in all ages, but Heaven and earth share in 
 "one hope." Abraham and Paul, Adam and his last penitent 
 child, are looking forward to one " blessed hope." Neither 
 the first believers who " died in faith," thirty centuries and 
 upwards before the Incarnation, nor any of the angels, can 
 realize the fulness of their hope, one day sooner than the 
 generations which are yet to come. The first born wait for 
 the last born. God is One, His happy universe is one Father's 
 house, and one hope animates all. By the brightness and joy 
 of our hope, let us glorify our Father, Who has called us to 
 His kingdom and glory. Christ is our hope. For His sake 
 we must rejoice in hope. None of the clouds, changes, pains, 
 trials of our material nature should chill our confidence. Our 
 hope is steadfast. Let us with patience wait for it. 
 "One Lord." '' Oiie Loi^d^ Everything in eternity and everything in 
 
 time, everything in God and everything in creatures, realize 
 their highest possibility, their first theatre of life, and their 
 sweetest unity in the one Lord of all creatures. All the powers 
 of the Godhead, in their due measure and order, are an ever- 
 springing paradise and garden of delights in Him. All truth, 
 all law, all righteousness and authority, have their springs in 
 Him. There are beams of power between Him and all things. 
 He is Lord of all, comprehending in Himself the whole circuit 
 of being, from its outgoing, — through all the mazes of dis- 
 obedience and sorrow, through all the depths of darkness and 
 death, — unto its return to God and eternity, in the image of His 
 own harmonies. — " One Lord," the Creator, the Redeemer of 
 our souls, the Spirit of our life, the Pattern of our character, 
 the Reconciler of all things, the Destroyer of death, the joy 
 and delight of Heaven and earth. " The same to-day, yester- 
 day, and for ever." 
 
 " One faithy If faith were a system of thought, one faith 
 
 " One Faith." 
 
'' One Baptismr 141 
 
 would be an impossibility. For all men could not be sincere in 
 subscribing to one scheme of thought. Faith is the warm and 
 steadfast eye of our life in Christ. It is the glance of God in 
 the soul. " The spirit of a man is the candle of Jehovah." , 
 And man consenting to use this in-shining light, in the contem- \ 
 plation of God and eternal things, is exercising faith. Faith, 
 therefore, is at once God's operation in man, and man's own 
 free act. The manifestation of God's Spirit is given to every 
 man, whether he use it or not. " But all men have not faith." 
 All men do not allow themselves to be stirred up to spiritual 
 exercises. They resist the Spirit of God. The principle of 
 faith, the light of faith, is absolutely one in all the earth. God is 
 One, and the Spirit of His Son is the Light that lighteth every 
 spirit. In this light, we "look not at the things which are seen, but 
 at the things which are not seen." "Whatsoever doth make 
 manifest is light." The soul in unity with the Spirit of Christ 
 is persuaded of the reality and glory of eternal things. To be 
 one with Christ, is to be one with God and Heaven. The 
 heart of the believer, therefore, glows with an undying love, 
 and rejoices in hope. This is the " one Faith," which under- 
 lies all the opinions and diversities, all the failings and sins of 
 the church. 
 
 And just as strictly, the whole church has but ''one "OneBap- 
 Baptism'' But as the " one Faith " is very distinct from the "^'"" 
 many conceptions and opinions of believers ; in like manner, 
 the one Baptism of the Church, is very distinct from the 
 baptism of the flesh, either in water, or with water. The 
 words of our risen Lord should teach us in what sense to 
 understand the "one Baptism." "John indeed baptized with 
 water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit^ The Acts. i. 5. 
 " one Baptism " is the baptism of the soul into Christ. " Know 
 ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, 
 were baptized into His death?'' " I3y one Spirit we are all Rom. vi. 3. 
 baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, 
 whether we be bond or free ; and have been all made to 
 drink into one Spirit." We have here the "one baptism, and i Cor. xii. 13. 
 the " one body," and the " one Spirit," of all Christians. " The 
 
142 " One God and Father of all. " 
 
 Friends " never baptize in, or with, water, but they are second 
 to none of their fellow Christians, in the importance which 
 they attach to the "one Baptism." Baptism in water is a 
 sacred and beautiful thing, when it expresses and embodies 
 the " one Baptism " in the Spirit : otherwise it is nothing. 
 "If any man seem to be contentious, (on this subject, or any 
 
 I Cor. XI. 16. other,) we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God." 
 In all that concerns their life in Christ, the Churches are, and 
 always were, and ever will be, at one. Division and strife arise 
 from the desire to supplement the spirit of life in Christ, with 
 the definitions, limitations, conceits and formalities, of the 
 human understanding. Whatever opinions any man may 
 hold, or whatever ceremonialism he may practise, or defend, 
 let him be careful that his zeal be not the fervour of his own 
 spirit. Let every thing that is private, denominational, or 
 ritualistic, be very humble ; and let love be the only earnest 
 spirit of the Church, love to Christ, love to each other, and 
 love to all men. " By this shall all men know that ye are My 
 
 jno xiii. 35. disciplcs, if ye have love one to another." " Whoever walks 
 in love, will be led by the beams of God's truth, and be 
 carried through all tortuosities and windings, to the final 
 harmony of things." 
 
 "One God " One God and Father of all. Who is above all, and through 
 
 au." ^ ^"^^ all, and in you all." The series ends, as it should, in the bosom 
 of the adorable Trinity ; for the whole Trinity is here. The 
 ' Father is the source of all things ; the Son, or the Wisdom of 
 the Father, is the Administrator, throuofh Whom are all things : 
 land the Spirit, which is in all things, is the Bond holding all 
 together. Blessed thought ! Fatherliness is over all things, 
 round about all things ; and not only outside all things, but 
 " through all " things, as one chain of innumerable links ; and 
 " in all," as the spring of all motion, life and growth. " Of 
 Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things : to Whom 
 
 Rom. xi. 36. be glory for ever, Amen." All things having come from One 
 Father, all things must have somewhat of their First cause in 
 them, through which they are in the First Father, and the 
 First Father in them. The centre of Attraction to the whole 
 
Every man his own measure. 143 
 
 universe is the Father, from Whom it proceeded. Under the 
 influence of One primary Centre, stars move, tides flow, flowers 
 bloom, angels love, and men believe in their Saviour. The 
 way of all self-willed and rebellious spirits is hard, and, more- 
 over, they dwell in a dry land. To them, the power and glory 
 of the Father are repellant, and they shrink away to be con- 
 founded by their own darkness, and broken on the wheel of 
 Divine Order. For whether spirits be accordant or discordant, 
 God works on, according to the counsel of His own will ; of 
 necessity treading under every opposing spirit, and bringing 
 every consenting spirit, out of sin and darkness, into a condition 
 of permanent blessedness and glory. Let the sinfulest of us 
 and the farthest off arise, and return to our Father. Let our 
 Father have joy in us, let Jesus have joy in us, let the Spirit 
 have joy in us, let the angels have joy in us, let those who 
 have longed after us with many a sigh and prayer, have joy in 
 us ; and let us have joy in ourselves, by union and communion 
 with the whole body in Heaven and earth of the Father's 
 children. 
 
 Ckap. IV. 7-10. — Btit unto every one of tis is given 
 grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 
 8 Therefore He saith, when He ascended tip on high, He 
 led captivity captive, and gave gifts nnto men. ()(Nozv 
 that He ascended, what is it, but that He also first 
 descended ifito the lower parts of the earth f He that 
 descended is He also that ascended up far above all 
 heavens, that He might fill all things?) 
 
 With Christ for our life, we are members of the last and 5^<^^ °"^ ^^^ 
 ripest kmgdom of God, a kmgdom of completed harmonies; sure of the 
 but as individuals we are very small items of the whole. We '^eaveniy gift. 
 must be very careful, therefore, not to afflict our brethren, by 
 too warmly pleading for our understanding of things, which at 
 best, only represents our own " measure of the gift of Christ." 
 '* The fulness of God," or " the unity of the Spirit," leaves our 
 
144 
 
 CJirisfs tmiversal conquests. 
 
 Christ's uni- 
 versal 
 concmests, 
 
 over all the 
 powers of the 
 flesh and the 
 world, 
 
 over sin and 
 death, 
 
 over Hades, 
 
 Utmost conceptions infinitely behind. All creatures have their 
 measure ; but " the fulness of Christ " is without measure. 
 Between the greatest and least disciple, the difference is very 
 small, but between the greatest and Christ, the difference is as 
 that between a babe's span and the circle of the heavens. 
 Humble, undistinguished members are as essential to the body 
 of Christ, and as dear to Him, as the most distinguished. The 
 great are not great for their own, but for their brethren's sake. 
 Therefore let not the distinguished despise the undistinguished, 
 nor the undistinguished envy the distinguished. " We are 
 members one ofanother;" and "God hath set the members 
 every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him." 
 
 From Jesus, the reigning Head of our kingdom, every 
 member receives a gift which makes the receiver one with 
 Himself It is a gift of His own life, which is not only a sign 
 of His victory over death, but insures the like victory to the 
 receiver. Christ's ascension signified that the conquest of all 
 the powers of flesh, world, death, and hell was complete. 
 Being found in fashion as a man, all spirits who are in league 
 with'the flesh, exhausted their whole art and power upon Him. 
 Beyond oppressing Him and awakening His resistance, they 
 could do nothing. Instead of taking Him captive. He made 
 them His captives. He was in the world, but the spirit of 
 the world was powerless to move His inclinations in a worldly 
 direction. The world-spirit had taken all men captive: Christ 
 turned the captivity. " I have overcome the world." " Be of 
 good cheer." The spirit of this world is powerless before man 
 at last. Henceforth the house of bondage cannot hold a single 
 human spirit, who desires to go forth. As the Head of all men, 
 the sin of all men met in Him, the wrath and curse of all sin 
 came upon Him. He died as one accursed, and became 
 Death's captive, but the captive was too mighty for Death. 
 " He led captivity captive." Death fled before Him. Heaven's 
 light shone clearly into the valley. In Christ's gift of life, 
 rnan, any man, may go down into the valley, mocking death 
 and chanting victory. Through death, Christ descended into 
 the lower Earth, (called also "the heart of the Earth,") 
 
Chrisfs universal Conquests. 
 
 145 
 
 Isa. xlix. 25. 
 
 Ps. cxxvi, I, 2. 
 
 Isa. XXV. 9. 
 
 traversing in spirit the great shadowy land, and preaching the 
 great year of release. Hades was helpless, and could not hold 
 its prey. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Samuel and 
 Daniel, and all who had died in faith rejoiced to see their 
 King among them. Hades must yield up her captivity. Hope, 
 long deferred, came at last. "He led captivity captive," saying 
 to hosts of prisoners, " Go forth," and to those who were in 
 darkness, " Show yourselves." By the mouth of His prophets isa. xiix. 9. 
 the Lord had declared, "the captives shall be taken from the 
 mighty, and the prey shall be delivered from the terrible." 
 The captives were like them that dream. " Then was our 
 mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing." 
 " Lo, this is our God ; we have waited for Him, and He will 
 save us; this is Jehovah ; we have waited for Him, we will 
 rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Hades was faint with 
 terror that day, and Heaven sung a new song. The ven- 
 geance and the comfort of God passed through Hades. Jesus 
 passed through, not in the weakness of His flesh, but in the 
 might of His Spirit. He loosed His prisoners, and opened 
 the gates, and led a great captivity captive. " I have the keys 
 of Hades," rings from His lips. And again, "O Hades where 
 is thy victory V By translating Hades, grave, the whole force i Cor. xv. 35. 
 of this passage is lost. It is Hades, which has lost its victory 
 over the souls of men. Christ has acquired it. Believers in 
 Christ, go through Hades and pass on their way to an open 
 Heaven. Henceforth Death and Hades deliver up their dead, 
 such as are for Heaven to Heaven, and such as are for hell 
 to hell. 
 
 Having taken every element and power captive, which had 
 ever held man captive, Jesus ascended to the Heavenlies, and 
 passing through from Heaven to Heaven, He clothed His 
 Humanity with the virtues and powers of each Heaven, so that 
 not only in His Divine, but in His Human nature. He excels 
 all the angelic orders, having by conquest obtained a more 
 excellent Name than they. His Name expresses what no 
 other name in earth or heaven expresses, namely, acquired 
 powers which never before were acquired or possessed. 
 
 K 
 
 — and over 
 Heaven. 
 
146 
 
 The new kingdom. 
 
 His new 
 powers are 
 gifts for men. 
 
 The new 
 kinjrdom. 
 
 All His powers ; — those which He acquired in the days of 
 His flesh, over the flesh ; and those which He acquired in the 
 world, by overcoming the world; and those which He acquired 
 by enduring the wrath and curse of sin ; and those which He 
 acquired in death, over death; and those which He acquired in 
 "Hades, over all its gates and powers ; and those which He 
 acquired in the Heavens of the angels, by transcending them 
 all ; — all these are now and for ever the powers of His Divine 
 Humanity. As the Son of Man, He has acquired these powers 
 for men. They are His gifts to men, " dividing to every man 
 severally as He will." But before he speaks of the distribution 
 of these powers, Paul detains us for a moment by one of his 
 parentheses. 
 
 (" Now that He ascended, what is it, but that also He 
 descended first, into the lower parts of the earth ? He that 
 descended is the same also that ascended up far above all 
 heavens, that He might fill all things.") He cannot speak of 
 our Lord's ascent without alluding to His descent, nor can he 
 speak of these extremes without thinking of all that is inter- 
 mediate between them. Jesus comprehends in Himself both 
 these extremes, and all that is between them. 
 
 There being no Heaven which sufficiently corresponded 
 with His conquests and acquirements to be a suitable sphere 
 for His redeemed, He ascended "far above all heavens," "to 
 prepare a place for them." There were innocent and holy 
 heavens, and there were Thrones, Dominions, and Powers, 
 with all their multitudes ; but there was no heaven founded on 
 universal conquest; no heaven that had overcome flesh, world, 
 sin, death. Hades, and the whole power of the enemy. It is 
 of course conceivable that our Lord should have distributed 
 His redeemed among all the existing Heavens; but this would 
 have been foreign to God's method of order. The fulness and 
 unity of Christ's nature are utterly distinct from every previously 
 existing form of being. He unites in Himself His Father's 
 glory, the glory of the holy angels, and His own peculiar glory, 
 as the Reconciler of all things. In all justice and propriety, 
 therefore, He has founded a new Dominion in His Father's 
 
Universal Headship is tmiversal service. 1 47 
 
 House. This new Heaven was from eternity foreseen, and 
 fore-ordained, as at once the keystone, and the crown, of all the 
 works of God. No Heaven could repose on an absolutely 
 " sure foundation," so long as there were in the universe un- 
 conquered powers, or irreconciled divisions. Nor even now 
 could Christ's form of Being be considered final, if He did not 
 include in Himself every principle, and the settled harmony of 
 all contrarieties. But His descent into the earth, and thence 
 into death and Hades, and His ascension thence to a sphere 
 above all the inhabited heavens, demonstrated to all angels, as 
 He passed through the midst of them to His own throne, that 
 no power remained anywhere unsubdued. Christ is not only 
 the legitimate and natural Head of Creation ; He is also the 
 Firstborn from the dead, and strictly representative of universal 
 recovery. From natures, qualities, and powers in Himself, 
 answering to all things, " He fills all things." From the 
 uppermost heights to the nethermost depths, throughout the 
 whole circuit, He has sown His power, and left the track of 
 His glory. It was essential to the Father's original plan, 
 and the integrity and harmony of the universe, that the whole 
 circle should be complete in Him, "that in Him all fulness 
 should dwell." 
 
 The supreme Headship of Christ fulfils suprone service. Universal 
 Havincf taken up all thine^s into Himself, and reconciled all f^eadship is 
 
 ■, . *. TT- irTT'1 1 r ^ • universal 
 
 things in Himself, He is the new seed-corn of the universe, service. 
 Under Him all things become new. "He that sat upon the 
 throne said, Behold / 7na/ce all l/nngs ncivy There are no 
 angels which are not receiving a spirit of life from Him, that 
 they, as well as men, may become absolutely harmonic 
 creatures. Their minds are being greatly enlarged, and their 
 affections quickened anew, and, as a consequence, they will 
 put on higher and higher degrees of glorification. Neither 
 angels nor men will rest until they are filled, after their own 
 order, with the fulness of the Son of God. And not only all 
 creatures, but "all things" are waiting to be made new by His 
 unity. The very end of His Incarnation, death, descent to 
 Hades, and ascent above all heavens, is, ''that He might fill 
 
1 48 Universal Headship is tmiversal service. 
 
 ALL THINGS." Wavcs of Hving energy, from the Sun of His 
 glory, are ever and ever flowing into the Heavens, and thence 
 into all the elements and kingdoms of nature. The whole 
 universe visible and invisible is His Seed-field, and His own 
 Unity is the seed. More and more rapidly, and more and 
 more widely, from age to age, the sowing goes on ; for reception 
 increases the power of reception, and the greater the diffusion, 
 the greater also is the momentum, of His regenerative Spirit. 
 Our whole being should dilate with a glowing desire to 
 receive Christ. He is " King of kings, and Lord of lords." 
 His dominion is universal and everlasting. Let Him descend 
 into our dark spirit-world, and take captive all our powers and 
 passions ; and let Him ascend above all the heavens of our 
 thoughts and conceptions, and thence reign over us, filling us 
 with the Truth of His Love, and the Love of His Truth, 
 with the variety of His unity, and the unity of His variety, 
 with the glory of His Power, and the Power of His Glory. 
 Amen. 
 
 Chap. IV. 11-13. — A fid He gave some, apostles; and 
 some, prophets; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors 
 and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for 
 the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body 
 of Christ; 13 Till we all come into the tinity of the 
 faith, and of the knozvledge of the Son of God, unto a 
 perfect man, nnto the measure of the stature of the ful- 
 ness of Christ. 
 
 The relations of Christ's spirit to men are past finding out. 
 Christ entered into all conditions, and filled all things, that 
 it might be in His power to give to men a spirit, in which all 
 things are reconciled and at rest. In this sense the Holy 
 Spirit was not, till the whole work of Christ was finished. 
 The Holy Spirit according to New Testament usage is the 
 jno. vii. 39. new spirit of humanity, which is shed upon us abundantly from 
 our ascended Saviour. Nothing is so secret, nothing so potent. 
 
The all inchisive gift. 149 
 
 nothing so appeases and pleases the whole depth of the soul. 
 
 In this ereat eift of Christ, all pfifts are included. The loftiest The aii-indu- 
 
 , , ^^ * . . . ^ . 1 • • sive eift 
 
 and deepest spirit ever given to creatures, is now being given ^ 
 to men. Never before was the whole fulness of Divine 
 nature, and of created nature, given as " One Spirit." By the 
 gift of this "one and the self-same Spirit," some are dis- 
 tinguished by their love, others receive rather a gift of wisdom, 
 others a gift of knowledge, while others receive a spirit of 
 meekness and reserve. Every receiver is quickened according 
 to his own nature and genius. 
 
 Many saw our Lord, believed in Him, and received the 
 Holy Spirit, who were neither apostles, nor teachers. Pre- 
 eminently, Jesus Himself is " The Apostle of our profession," 
 sent directly from the Father, into the world. After Him, Apostles. 
 those are apostles who directly by Himself are called and 
 qualified to represent Him. They are the princes of the 
 kingdom of heaven, having close and immediate relationship 
 with the Lord. There may be little that is striking about 
 them. They are rather simple honest men, than men of 
 great parts. They are channels of grace to all nations, 
 " Go ye, and initiate all nations, baptizing them into the name 
 of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Pro- Matt.xxviii. 
 phets are men who speak from a Divine impulse, rather than p^phets. 
 from their own thought, or wisdom. A man may occasionally 
 be the medium of a Divine utterance, and yet be neither a 
 representative man, nor a teacher. Prophets are irregular 
 men. At times they are in a very lofty mood, they see 
 visions, they hear the voice of God ; but they are ill adapted 
 for the routine of ordinary service. You cannot depend upon 
 them. They will not come under the yoke of established 
 methods. Evangelists are matter of fact men. They are Evangelists. 
 rather inspired by the past than the present. The facts of 
 the Gospel are their all and in all ; of the laws of the facts 
 they know nothing. They are believers, but blind. They 
 are admirably fitted to rouse the attention of plain unsophis- 
 ticated persons. For the African mind they are all that you 
 could desire : to the philosophical Hindu they are useless. 
 
ISO 
 
 The perfecting of believers. 
 
 Pastors and 
 teachers. 
 
 of believers. 
 
 In the work of awakening simple men from their sleep in sin, 
 they are perfectly at home ; but as pastors and teachers they 
 are wholly unfitted. Pastors and teachers are rather architects 
 and builders, than quarrymen, or gatherers of raw material. 
 It is as distinctly our Lord's will that Christians should grow 
 in grace and knowledge, as that sinners should be converted. 
 Some, therefore, are adapted to arouse and convert men, and 
 others to educate the converted. Men may be brought to 
 Christ, and yet be very imperfect men. They are in Christ, 
 but not grown up into Christ. In most of them, their own 
 sinful nature is much more active and prominent, than their 
 new nature. Adam is very strong in them, and Christ very 
 weak. The new man in them is but a mere germ, without 
 development. They require much teaching and much grace 
 to make them " meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
 saints in light." The invisible power of Christ, and His visible 
 The perfecting gifts in the Church, are in co-operation '' for the perfectijig of 
 the saints^ An endless variety of ministry is provided for 
 this end. Every divine ministry is supplied with its measure 
 of wisdom and of grace, from the treasury of Christ. 
 
 Diversities of gifts are necessary to meet a corresponding 
 diversity in the natures of men. Each disciple is susceptible 
 of a development peculiar to himself; nor can his perfection 
 be confounded with that of any other man. The perfection 
 of a primrose is not that of a lily, nor the perfection of a lily 
 that of a rose. God's idea of perfection is not to make lilies 
 into fruit-trees, nor fruit-trees into cedars. God will have His 
 lily-children to be perfect as lilies, and His cedar-children to be 
 perfect as cedars, and so on. There will be endless diversity 
 among men, yet each perfect in his own order. The riches 
 of Divine love and wisdom, strength and beauty, will be 
 mirrored in the variety. 
 
 " The perfecting of the saints" is not only very distinct from 
 their conversion, or first faith in Christ ; but much more import- 
 ant than their comforting. The Divine method of comforting 
 is by perfecting. To comfort souls, and leave them unrenewed 
 and disqualified for life in Heaven, would be delusive and cruel. 
 
'' Perfect Man r 151 
 
 The Eternal Father owns no other way of comforting men, than 
 by making them partakers of the incorruptible and eternal nature . 
 
 of His Son. Our Lord carefully defines the Comforter to be 
 " the Spirit of Truth ;" teaching us, that to be comforted in any 
 other way. than by the correcting, transforming power of truth, 
 is to be flattered and deceived. Indeed the word TafaxXjjro; is not 
 well translated by Comforter. The word rather means one who 
 pleads in the hearts of Christ's disciples against all impurity, 
 and wins them on in the path of perfection. To look to 
 Christ as the Beginner of the new life is absurd, unless we 
 also look to Him as its Finisher. Finishing the life of faith, 
 and perfecting men, are the same work. 
 
 " The perfecting of the saints " can never be promoted by 
 the ministry of a mere evangelist, or preacher of Gospel facts. 
 The hodman is very useful, but not as an architect. A reitera- 
 tor of common-places is not a teacher. Believers cannot be 
 perfected by his everlasting a, b, c. The perfecting of your 
 house must be given to other hands than the men who dig out 
 the foundation. To preach salvation is one thing, to build up 
 the body of Christ, or in other words, to perfect men for 
 fellowship with Christ, in the glory of Heaven, is a very 
 different thing. When persons who are already " in Christ," 
 are ministered to by a declaimer of gospel history, they lose 
 their time, they are not fed, not built up in their most holy 
 faith. Evangelists are wanted, pastors and teachers are also 
 wanted. The Lord has given both. In every age. He pro- 
 vides teachers adapted to the age, related to every order of 
 mind, and every stage of spiritual progress. 
 
 The grand end of the Christian ministry, as it is also the 
 end of time, and the end of Christ's whole work, is to perfect 
 man, or rather to perfect humanity. " Till we all come into 
 the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
 unto a Perfect Man." The Son of God is a rich unity of powers ; "Perfect 
 our faith must grow, until, as life and thought, it shall corre- ■'^^^"■" 
 spond with " His Fulness." The Son of God is the Fountain- 
 Head and Prototype of humanity, and humanity will in the 
 end be the Son of God unfolded. Paul consequently, in so 
 
152 
 
 Inspiring Thought. 
 
 The know- 
 ledge of the 
 Son of God 
 reserved till 
 we are all 
 perfect. 
 
 Inspiring 
 thought. 
 
 many words declares that he means by Perfect Man, " the 
 measure of the stature of The Fulness of Christ." If our body 
 were perfect it would perfectly represent the soul which lives 
 in it. Humanity will be such a perfectly representative Body 
 of Christ. But the perfection of this Body cannot be known 
 until it is complete. Be patient, brethren, " //// we all cornel' 
 &c., &c. Many generations of the members of this body are 
 yet to be born. What human life will ultimately be is not con- 
 ceivable to any creature in earth or heaven. How sweetly the 
 weight of each planet is balanced against all the forces which 
 are ceaselessly acting upon her. Instead of being oppressed 
 thereby, she is carried by them, and glides, and blooms, and 
 sings on her way, enjoying the rest of existence, as one who 
 is delivered from the sense of her own weight. Much more 
 will all things, in each member of Christ, be balanced into 
 nicest harmony with all things in the whole body. Every 
 member will be supported by all the members, and all the 
 members by Christ and the Father. The joy of the " Perfect 
 Man " will sing through each individual. Every one will be 
 "perfect in Christ Jesus ;" but the whole number will consti- 
 tute " Perfect Man," the measure of the stature of the Fulness 
 of Christ. The Perfect Man will be incorruptible, inviolable, 
 eternal, as Christ. But who can imagine the action of the Son 
 of God on the whole body, and the action of the whole body 
 on each member ? — the inspirations of strength ? the currents 
 of love ? the irradiation of the understanding ? the recipro- 
 cities ? Not only the Perfect Man must first be, before any of 
 us can know the full joy of his existence, but before we can 
 have "the full knowledge of the Son of God." When His 
 fulness is built up into humanity, we shall know Him as He is. 
 Not that any one member will possess this knowledge ; it will 
 be the possession of the Body. But owing to the perfect 
 unity and community of the Body, what is distributed among 
 all the members, will virtually be the privilege and possession 
 of each. In the final Body of humanity there will be no 
 schism. 
 
 What a blessed subject of thought futurity is to every 
 
Inspiring TJioiight. 153 
 
 member of the Perfect Man ! — a Body, the proportions of 
 which are those of the Son of God ! and the measure of which 
 is "the Fulness of Christ!" If this distinction were only- 
 possible to a few persons, with what admiration and envy they 
 would be contemplated. But a share in His own Divine 
 humanity is precisely the inheritance which He holds out to all 
 men. He allures us to no shadow. At present we are but 
 shadows ; He is substance. Christ is Body — absolute, — an 
 Eternal Spirit-Body, representing all the fulness of the God- 
 head. " The last Adam is life-giving Spirit^ It is a Body 
 which includes and crowns in one Form the all things of God 
 and the all things of creation. " The crown of life," which the 
 Lord hath promised to those who love Him, is a body, an 
 eternal form of being like His own. Christ dwelling in our 
 hearts is the seed of our future Crown. " Christ in us, the 
 hope of glory." This is the " incorruptible Crown" of which 
 Paul was so ambitious. " That I maywin Christ andbefotind \ Cor. ix. 25. 
 in Him, I have suffered the loss of all things and do count Phi), iii. 8, 9. 
 them dung." Peter also speaks of " the crown of glory which 
 shall never fade away," manifestly meaning thereby, the Perfect 
 Humanity of the Son of God, which we shall share, and in 
 which " we shall reign with Him in Life." He, the Centre, 
 the Body, and the Channel of all living virtues and powers, 
 and we about Him for ever. 
 
 Whatever be our present weakness or imperfectness, if we 
 stand in vital connection with Him, if we are abiding in Him, 
 and He in us, we shall in our time and order, be made perfect 
 as He is perfect. God has given to us a rare opportunity for 
 the exercise both of faith and patience " till we all come unto 
 Perfect Man." " Behold ! I and the children which God hath Heb. ii.13. 
 given me." " None of them is lost." J°^" '^''- ''' 
 
 Chap. IV. 14-19 — TJiat we henceforth be ?io viore 
 children, tossed to and fro, and carried about ivith every 
 ivind of doctrine, by the artifice of men, by craftifiess to 
 
1 54 Distmct sources of Thought. 
 
 the method (system, [xiSohua) of error ; 1 5 BiU holding 
 the truth, may in love groiu np itito Him in all things, 
 
 Which is the Head, Christ: 16 From Whom the zvJiole 
 body, fitly joined together, and compaeted by that which 
 every joint snpplieth, according to the effectual zvorking in 
 the measure of every part, maketh the increase of the body 
 nnto the building of itself np in love. 17 This I say 
 therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth 
 walk, not as other Gentiles ivalk, in the vanity of their 
 inijid, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being 
 alienated from the life of God, through the ignoj'ance 
 that is in them, because of the Jiardness of their heart : 
 
 19 Who bei7ig past feeling, have given tJiemselves up to a 
 wanton life, for the working of all uncleanness ivith 
 greediness. 
 
 To grow up into the Son of God, unto a perfect man, is our 
 defence against all those thought- waves and currents of fleshly 
 sensibility which invade the soul, and seek to carry her from 
 God, and from her own completeness and glory. All thought 
 must either proceed from a plausible, fascinating " system of 
 Distinct error," or from the Body of Truth, which is Christ. Under their 
 
 thought. ruling thoughts, men are gradually brought into strong organic 
 
 connection with the source whence they come. Even those 
 who have received a measure of the Spirit of Christ are often 
 " tossed to and fro " between Truth itself, and some phase of 
 the great world-system of thought. The spirit of one's life 
 may be in Christ long before his understanding is " light 
 ill the Lord.'' The natural heart and mind of many are 
 confederate with the scheme of thouofht of which Satan is the 
 leading intellect. Long after Peter and his fellow apostles 
 were true disciples, both their method of thought and the spirit 
 of their desires, savoured more of Satan than of God. Christ 
 could only reply to their mode of reasoning with the repulse : 
 " Get behind Me, Satan." To the present mode of our being, 
 error is both more plausible and pleasing than Truth. The 
 tendency of every man's reason is to reprove Christ, and plead 
 for the flesh. "To grow up into Christ" is an humbling, self- 
 mortifying process. It can never be attractive to the natural 
 
Doctrines about Christ, are not Christ. 155 
 
 man. " I could not speak to you as unto spiritual persons, for 
 
 hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye 
 
 able." A system of thought about Christ and spiritual things, i Cor. Hi. i, 2. 
 
 which leaves the carnal soul intact and uncrucified, seems to be 
 
 the only one of which young Christians are capable. Spare 
 
 them the severe ordeal of a new creation, and many will follow 
 
 Christ and admire Him. As soon as He spake plainly to 
 
 them of the law of the new life, "many of His disciples went 
 
 back, and walked no more with Him." They preferred the 
 
 grand system of error, which is according to the flesh. 
 
 How often Paul was bowed down and distressed in spirit, 
 fearing that it would be found at last that he had bestowed on 
 his converts, " labour in vain." They were called by the name 
 of Christ, but was the new nature being formed in them ? 
 " My little children, I travail again in birth with you, until 
 Christ be formed in you : for I stand in doubt of you." Gal. iv. 19, 20. 
 
 Doctrines about Christ are no more Christ, than ideas about Doctrines 
 the sun are the sun. Your ideas of the sun, however just they are°not chdst. 
 may be, will not grow your corn, nor ripen your grapes. But 
 your fields and vines, properly related to the Sun will give you 
 full ears and rich clusters, although your ideas of the process be 
 very defective. Hold to Christ, and have very little respect to 
 any man's "wind of doctrine." Beware of thought-systems. 
 Be not the slaves of your own emotions. Christ is neither 
 thought nor feeling, "but the Bread of life." The one supreme 
 good is to partake of Him, become grounded and established 
 in Him. It is a very pernicious thing to be puffed up with the 
 windy conceits of your party or church. If you sail under some 
 current " wind of doctrine," call it evangelical or protestant, or 
 what you will, you will find your love and joy to be very depen- 
 dent on your favourite wind. But if you are in the Son of God, 
 rather than in this or the other doctrine about Him, you will care 
 little to ask )our fellow Christians what particular wind they are 
 sailing under. The love of God is "exceeding broad :" hold the 
 Truth in His Love, and the Truth will not only make you 
 free, but dispose you to accord a large freedom to others who 
 are not of your fold. Trade-winds and church-winds are but 
 
156 
 
 The compact unity of the body. 
 
 winds. Christ is the Body of Truth. You will find little 
 substance either in eastern or western opinion, in the doctrines 
 of high church or low church. There are traditions which 
 are after men, which you must not suffer to sway you this way 
 that. Be not "tossed to and fro." You have received 
 
 or 
 
 The Spirit of 
 Love essential 
 to growth. 
 
 Christ, walk therefore in Him. Let no man spoil you, neither 
 through philosophy, nor church history, the former being 
 " according to the rudiments {erbiyha) of the world," and the 
 latter "after the tradition of men," "and not after Christ." 
 
 To hold the Truth in Love is the condition of growth. 
 Be not agitated by solemn craftiness, but lovingly hold Christ 
 for your Truth, and in love, you will grow up into Him in all 
 things, till you come to the completeness of " perfect man." 
 You may be puffed up by the thoughts and conceits of your 
 venerable or self-righteous church, but you can only grow with 
 any growth that eternity will recognise, as Christ, the New 
 Man, is developed in you. The mysteries both of generation 
 and regeneration are mysteries of love. Cleave to Christ in 
 love, and you will grow up into Him ; and only those who grow 
 up into Him will ever know Him. Turning to those who 
 i; searched the Scriptures, and . who " thought that in them 
 they had eternal life," rather than in Him, He solemnly said, 
 jno. V. 39-42. " I know you, that you have not the Love of God in you." 
 
 The only love by which you can cleave to Christ, is the 
 Life of His own Love in you. By one and the same bond 
 the members of Christ are joined to Him and " fitly joined " to 
 each other. They are more than "fitly joined together," they are 
 " compacted," consolidated into the unity of one Body, under 
 one Head. The Spirit of Christ diffused throughout the body, 
 constitutes both its nourishment and unity. Freely and 
 largely as the Spirit of Life flows from Christ ; no greater 
 measure can be circulating in the body than that " which 
 every joint supplieth." Full streams cannot be transmitted 
 through paralyzed members, or feeble joints. The actual 
 supply from God the Father and from Christ, is governed by 
 the receiving capacity of the body. " The effectual working " 
 in the whole Body is truly the working of Christ ; but it must 
 
 The compact 
 unity of the 
 body. 
 
The vain mind. 
 
 157 
 
 be borne in mind that His working is "according to the 
 measure of every part." The inworking energy from our 
 Divine Head, depends on the co-operative energy of the 
 members. Neither the measure of Christ's indwelhng, nor 
 the might of His working, can exceed that which every joint 
 can communicate, and every part receive. I am afraid we 
 must say that Christ has no body on the earth which can 
 receive Him. Answering to the measure in which the 
 Church is receiving and transmitting His operative power. He 
 is building up the powers of His Love in her. The Church could 
 never in any real or true sense be " the Body of Christ," unless Coi. ii. 19 
 the substance of Divine Love, which is the substance of Christ, 
 were built up in her. But through such members as we are, a sad 
 our Divine Head is able to communicate very little of His reflection. 
 upbuilding love. He is straitened in us. The mighty works 
 which He desires to do. He cannot. By the selfishness and 
 the worldliness of our hearts. His hands are bound, and His 
 Spirit restrained. Yet there is no ground for discouragement. 
 Much is done ; and the day of God's power is surely coming, 
 when all true believers will put on new strength, and grow 
 "with the increase of God." 
 
 The proneness of believers to " mind earthly things," and Paul's 
 not the things of Jesus and His kingdom, cost Paul many 
 tears. He looked on the earthly mind as the enemy of the 
 Cross of Christ. " / testify in the Lord^' he writes, that hence- 
 forth you walk not as the nations walk. He is sure that his 
 earnestness is ''in the Lord." The world is one spirit, the 
 Lord is another, and very different Spirit. The Spirit of his 
 Lord wrought very mightily in Paul's soul. He testifies " in 
 the Lord " that the nations are walking " in the vanity of their The vain 
 mind." He charges believers to rebuke this vain mind. 
 There is neither life nor peace in it. Deceit and death are in 
 it, and it leads to death. The vain mind, which makes this 
 present world, and not the kingdom of God, its object, is 
 nevertheless very acute. The children of God are less wise 
 in the things which pertain to their eternal kingdom, than are 
 the men of the world in the things of the world. For the 
 
 earnestness. 
 
 mind. 
 
138 '' Past Feelingr 
 
 knowledge, pleasure, and glory of the flesh, they have keen 
 appetite, and in the pursuit of them evince rare skill and 
 devotion. They would rather not be told that the only 
 knowledge, pleasure, and glory, which they covet, are vain. 
 " Satan deceiveth the whole world." No one can look the 
 world fairly in the face, or see it as it is, until his affections 
 have grasped the true human world, in Christ Jesus. The 
 sphere of vanity is not boundless, but it is great enough to 
 impose upon all mortal creatures. It is as broad as all visible 
 things, and as long as time. Man being an eternal creature, 
 but living in time in a mortal body, whatever attracts his 
 notice, or love, and yet is incapable of yielding him anything 
 . in eternity, is vanity. The present world is not the soul's 
 true or right object. Its knowledge is not the eternal know- 
 ledge, its pleasure is not the eternal pleasure, its glory is not 
 the eternal glory ; but it allures the soul as though it were : 
 thus it deceives and cheats men. " Surely every man walketh 
 in a vain show." 
 
 Until the Son of God hath opened our eyes, we see 
 nothing but vanity, we desire nothing but vanity. One beam 
 of the true glory disenchants the soul, and spoils the glory of 
 the world. The mask falls ; the world is seen into, that it is 
 but a flattering vanity ; Satan's spell is broken ; and another 
 immortal is escaped out of the snare of the fowler. 
 d!^ara^*tJ'/oT ^^^^^ natural man cannot see the vanity of the worldly life, 
 
 ignorance. for his " Understanding is darkened." " The ignorance that 
 is in him," and by which he is " alienated from the life of God, 
 is something positive. Positivism is the boast of the vain 
 mind. The whole sum of his knowledge is ignorance, his 
 reason is the organ of his ignorance, his will is the tenacious 
 ground in which his ignorance has its root and life. A 
 darkening and a hardening process go on together in his soul. 
 At thirty, he is much darker and harder than he was at fifteen, 
 and at forty, still darker and harder than at thirty. *' Because of 
 the hardness of his heart " his understanding is more and more 
 darkened ; and under the progressive darkening of his mind, 
 •'Past feeling." his heart is more and more hardened. He has lost his divine 
 
To be taught by Paul, not enough. 159 
 
 sensibility ; and the natural consequence is, he gives himself 
 
 up without restraint to whatever accords with his vain mind 
 
 and unrenewed heart. He settles down into naturalism, 
 
 " into the wisdom of this world," and thus falls a prey to the 
 
 system of error, and the fascinations of vanity. Instead of 
 
 cleansing himself from all filthiness, both of the flesh and 
 
 spirit, he resigns himself to the dominion of the world and the 
 
 flesh, and the nearer he approaches to eternity, the more unfit 
 
 is he to dwell with God. By his vain knowledge he is fortified Awful issue. 
 
 against Divine knowledge ; having long lost the sensibility 
 
 of his youth, he cannot repent ; having sold himself to the 
 
 spirit of time, his soul is in utter disagreement with Christ, 
 
 and the whole kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 Chap. iv. 20-24. — But yo?i have not so learned Christ; 
 2 1 If hideed you have heard Him, and have been taught 
 in Him, as Truth is in Jesus: 22 That you sJioidd put 
 off, according to yoiir former manner of life, the old man, 
 which is corrupt according to the deceitfid lusts ; 23 And 
 become renezued iii the spirit of your mind; 24 And that 
 you sJioidd put on the new man, which has been created 
 accord I h-g to God in Right€ousness and True Holiness. 
 
 You are delivered from the old vanity of the nations, the 
 light of which darkened your understanding, and the life of 
 which alienated you from God. You have found new light 
 and life in Christ. In Him you are come to the eternal light, 
 the eternal life. Paul says not. If you have heard me, nor if 
 you have heard about Christ ; but " if you have Hinu'' For To be taught 
 he had taug-ht many about Christ, who vet had not heard ^^ ^'^^' ^°^ 
 
 ^ "' . -' enough. 
 
 Christ, and who were not walking in the light of His life. He 
 weeps over those who had only heard him, and had not heard 
 Christ speaking in their own souls. With all their outward 
 knowledge of the history of Christ, he calls them " the enemies 
 of the Cross of Christ." There is an immense distinction, 
 therefore, between being taught by Paul, and " taught in 
 
1 60 A greater attraction than our own nature. 
 
 The subject, in 
 brief, 
 
 and more fully. 
 
 A greater at- 
 traction than 
 our own 
 nature. 
 
 Christ." Who is Paul ? Who is Apollos ? he asks. Are 
 they not, and all other teachers external to the soul ? Christ 
 is within man. He and He only can break up the darkness 
 of the natural mind, and deliver the soul from the learned 
 ignorance of this world's wisdom. 
 
 Let us first of all briefly, and as lucidly as we are able, set 
 before us Paul's teaching in this place, and afterwards open it 
 somewhat more fully. 
 
 The centre from which he starts is Truth, not truth as the 
 nations of the world, or any natural man holds it, but " as 
 Truth is in Jesus^ 
 
 " If you have heard Him and have been taught in Him,'' 
 you are made aware of the necessity of putting off one nature, 
 and of putting on another. 
 
 The one must be put off, because it is corrupt and not 
 according to God, the other must be put on, because it 
 is " created according to God in Righteousness and True 
 Holiness." 
 
 " Truth, " as Truth is in Jesus," is older than the world, 
 and by its inherent power is able to supplant every form of 
 worldly life and being. By bringing His truth into it, " God 
 has made foolish the wisdom of the world." But "not many 
 wise men after the flesh " will suffer their wisdom to be made 
 folly by the invasion of Divine Wisdom." " The wisdom of 
 this world comes to nought because it is not according to God. 
 The world, not being an eternal form of being, cannot teach 
 absolute truth. " We speak the Wisdom of God," " which God 
 ordained before the world," and which is " settled for ever in 
 Heaven." 
 
 Apart from what are called the religious bearings of 'the 
 subject, there is surely something very alluring, almost be- 
 witching, in the idea of ceasing to be " old " and " corrupt," 
 and becoming "new," and incorrupt. The Truth in Jesus, 
 which is simply a discovery to us of the everlasting order of 
 things, requires us, first of all, in spirit, and finally in fact, 
 to put off our existing humanity. It is corrupt according to 
 the deceitful motions and workings of transient existence. In 
 
yoyfnl news. 1 6 1 
 
 order to become eternal men in the heavens, we must be 
 interiorly new made, according to the nature of the heavens. 
 
 Now to get rid of the corrupt element in our nature, to be 
 relieved from all its vanity and transitoriness, to be no longer 
 subject to the base temptations and pleasures of deceit ; but to 
 be " renewed in the spirit of our mind," or in other words, in 
 the very spring and fountain of our life, until our whole nature 
 becomes a new and glorious thing, is, to say the least, an im- 
 mense improvement on our present experience. 
 
 But this desirable change is precisely what eternal Truth, The question; 
 or the Truth in Jesus, commends to us. The whole question 
 which the gospel brings before us is one of natures. Will you 
 retain that which you have ? or will you decline it, " put it off," 
 in favour of a new nature of transcendently higher qualities .-* 
 You know what you have received from your parents and 
 nature ; will you exchange that, for a diviner form, which the 
 Son of God, by the Power and Spirit of His Divine Humanity, 
 will generate in you ? Is it your will and desire that your 
 inner man should take on a spirit and character, according to 
 the humanity which you have now ; or would you put away, 
 from your inner man, the spirit and character of your present 
 nature, that you may be a new man after God, such as Christ 
 is, " created in Righteousness and the Holiness of Truth ? " 
 Such as the inner spirit and principle of your life are, such will 
 be your future form. " God gives to every seed its own body." 
 Only from the " seed, Christ," can you have a future humanity 
 like Christ. Recognise the fact that every human soul is being 
 made for eternity, according to its own prevailing affections 
 and sympathies, and you will at once perceive the grave im- 
 portance of cherishing, in all the warmth of your love, de- 
 sires for the transformation which the Truth in Jesus presses 
 upon you. This truth teaches you how the body of death may be joyfui news, 
 put off from your soul, and divine humanity put on. It teaches 
 you how weakness, corruption, and every taint of the flesh and 
 spirit, may be put from you, as far as the east is from the west, 
 and how you may be transformed into God-like men. No 
 
 L 
 
1 62 yoy fill news. 
 
 other conceivable news could be half so joyful as this " Truth 
 in Jesus." 
 
 Paul does not say that he quotes the very words of our 
 Lord ; but he does affirm that, in substance, this is what you 
 have learned from Christ, " if indeed you have heard Him, and 
 have been taught by Him." Suppose we add here some of the 
 actual words of Christ. " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 johniii. 3. God." " Whosocver will save his life shall lose it; and who- 
 soever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it." " He that 
 loveth his life shall lose it ; he that hateth his life in this world 
 shall keep it unto life eternal." This all-essential truth was 
 so often heard from the mouth of our Lord, and so deeply im- 
 pressed the Apostles, that we find the paradox in no fewer 
 Matt. X. 39. than six distinct places in the Gospels. And Paul's words are 
 Matt. xvi. 25. \^^^ ^ lucid paraphrase of our Lord's sentiment. " You have 
 
 Mark viii. 35. f^ J; . , . , ,. ,. 
 
 Luke ix. 24. not SO learned Christ, as to thmk that you can live according 
 Luke xvu 33. ^ ^j^ leadings and desires of your vain nature, and yet be 
 
 John xii. 25. C5 1 1 TT- 1111 
 
 saved. " If so be you have heard Him, and have been taught 
 in Him, as Truth is in Jesus," you know, and are assured that 
 there is but one way of salvation, viz., " by the washing of re- 
 generation and the renewing of the Holy Spirit," or in other 
 words, by putting off what you are by nature, and putting on 
 Christ Jesus, in whom God has created man anew in the 
 eternity of His Righteousness, and the Holiness of His 
 Truth. 
 
 For Jesus not only taught the Truth of God, but fulfilled 
 all its requirements in Himself All that we are taught to put 
 off, died in Christ ; and all that we are to put on, lives for ever 
 in Him. The Christian's daily cross is his own nature, which 
 he must oppose, deny, and devote to death, " that he may win 
 Christ, and be found in Him." " He that taketh not his cross, 
 Matt. X. 38. and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me." 
 
 It comes to this, that there is a condition of human nature 
 which is under God's condemnation, and which it is impossible 
 even for Him to save from confusion and wrath : and there is 
 a condition which He entirely justifies, or approves. Con- 
 
yoyfiil news, 1 63 
 
 templating his own natural condition, Paul calls himself a 
 " wretched man," and asks, Who shall deliver me from this 
 evil substance, and body of death ? Who shall make me 
 another man, and bring me from under condemnation ? He 
 had found an answer, and replies, " I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." Asfain, and ao^ain he reiterates, in Rom. v. 
 that our condemnation is- come upon us, as a nature, through 
 one man, and that our justification is now being given to us, as 
 a new nature, through One Man, Christ Jesus. Moreover, he 
 teaches that the Source and Cause of our justification is as near 
 to us, as the source and cause of our condemnation. The 
 spirit and power of the fallen man is in our souls ; the Spirit 
 and Power also of Jesus, the Son of God, is in our souls. " Say 
 not, Who shall go up to Heaven, to bring Christ down," &c., 
 &c. " There is now therefore no condemnation to them which 
 are in Christ Jesus." It is the law of our own nature which 
 works our death ; it is the law of His nature which works our 
 life. " The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made 
 me free from the law of sin and death." In order to be saved, 
 we must withdraw our will from the working of fallen nature 
 in us, and give in our will to the working of Christ in us. 
 " Christ in us," — there is our sole hope. 
 
 Unless a man be a partaker of Christ, he is none of His, 
 As we should say of any angel, or spirit, who was not a par- 
 taker of our nature, he is not one of us. If any man be in 
 Christ Jesus, he is surely undergoing a process of renewal, the 
 old, corrupt man is being supplanted, and the new man, " after 
 the power of an endless life," is being created. How should it 
 be possible for a man to live with God and His holy angels, 
 unless he were first created and made for this very purpose. 
 Says Paul, in another place, God " hath wrought us for this 
 self same thing," that when we leave the mortal body, " we 
 should not be found naked " of divine qualifications ; but 
 already " clothed upon " with a celestial nature, and thus con- 
 stituted for Heaven. And God Who has so wrought us, "hath 
 given to us the earnest of the Spirit," Who talketh within us, 
 and persuadeth us concerning our Hope of a personal nature, 
 "a Building of God, Eternal in the Heavens." 
 
164 " Our house which is from heaven!' 
 
 "Our house There is, therefore, something most sweet and blessed, as 
 
 heaven/' '^""^ Well as painful, in the law by which we put off the old man, and 
 grovving under put on the new. Under the grief and cross of our fleshly soul, 
 our heaven is growing. The power by which we hate our 
 own life, is the presence of the Divine Love which glows in 
 us, and feeds the inner man with a peace and joy out of 
 heaven. No man glories in the fulness of his life, as does the 
 cross-bearing follower of Christ. " The Spirit of Glory and of 
 God resteth upon him," and is the element in which he lives, 
 breathes, and inly works, putting off his old, and putting on 
 his new nature. The foundations of Adam are giving place, in 
 him, before the mild glories of Christ. His Lord's joy is his 
 strength. No one regrets that winter is going out, when 
 summer is coming in. No one who awakes from death, 
 clothed with a body of light, will mourn the loss of the earthly 
 body. " I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness." 
 But whoever departeth this life unrenewed, and naked of the 
 Heavenly form, will see his shame, and in pain and confusion, 
 seek a hiding-place from the Presence of the Lord and the 
 glory of His Power. 
 
 Men in mortal bodies, it is high time for you to awake from 
 your dreams, and make the most of your opportunity, in 
 putting off the degradation, and putting on the Divine beauty 
 and glory of your inner man. Whereof the pattern has been 
 shewed to you in Jesus; as also the Power which worketh there- 
 unto is given to you in Him. 
 
 Chap. iv. 25-29. — WJiercf ore putting away false- 
 hood, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we 
 are fnembers one of another. 26 Be ye angry and sin 
 not: let not the sun go dozvn on your zvrath: 2J Neither 
 give place to the devil. 2Z Let him that stole steal no 
 more; but ratlier let him labour, working with his oivn 
 hands the thing zvhich is good, that he may have to give 
 to Jiim that ncedeth. 29 Let no corrupt communication 
 proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for 
 profitable edification, that it may minister grace unto the 
 fiearers. 
 
Lying. 165 
 
 The old man is not to be put off by one act, but by a series The daily 
 of self-conquests, dating from the first day of our discipleship, ^''^^s. 
 to our last breath on earth. To overcome and cast out Adam, 
 and to receive Christ Jesus the Lord are the work of our whole 
 life. The spirit of the flesh longs to reign, and the Spirit of 
 the Lord Jesus seeks to reign, in us. The strife between the 
 two constitutes that daily cross, which we must take up. 
 
 1. There is in us a very subtle tendency to deceit and lying. Rooted evils 
 We must watch and daily resist this tendency, " putting away unto^detth'^'^ 
 lying," and every species of deceit. 
 
 2. We are susceptible of anger, and anger may become hard 
 and revengeful, — a great ravager in the soul. We must put 
 away this spirit, or it will surely put away from us the Spirit 
 of Christ. 
 
 3. There is in us by nature a stronger tendency to take 
 from others, than to labour for their good. We must correct 
 this tendency, until it be reversed. 
 
 4. We have much folly and corruption in us, through which 
 we are in danger of defiling many. We must set a strict watch 
 over the outlet of the mouth, that we may strangle folly and 
 corruption at their birth. 
 
 I. Lying. Charge a man with lying, and his pride instantly Lying, 
 bursts into a flame of indignation. It is strange that the 
 temptation to lying should be so strong, since it is universally 
 felt to be cowardly and disgraceful. A person having told a 
 lie, will tell not two, but twenty lies, to cover it ; nay, will 
 perhaps lie as long as he lives, rather than confess his lie. 
 
 The spirit of the old serpent, that liar from the beginning, 
 is so entwined with our spirit, that we shall never be wholly 
 free from it, until we have wholly put off the old, and put on 
 the new man. If we were "conceived in pollution and shapen 
 in untruth," what wonder that we go astray from the birth, 
 speaking, acting, glancing, lies. 
 
 The subde spirit of untruth shows itself in a tendency to 
 overstate, or to understate facts, as the case may be ; to put a 
 face upon things which does not belong to them ; to make a 
 partial, instead of a whole disclosure ; and by endless shifts 
 
1 66 The charm of artlessness. 
 
 and sleek disguises, to choke and dissemble our actual know- 
 ledge and feeling. How many persons are there who tell a 
 tale, or report a calamity, without adding a little colouring of 
 their own ? The simple, artless statement of a thing would 
 often not sufficiently astonish the hearer, to be piquant and 
 tasty to ourselves. The love of awakening wonder is a close 
 relative of a lying spirit. 
 
 As children of God and disciples of the Truth, we 
 must deny ourselves the luxury of untruth. In words, actions, 
 looks and tones, we should be artlessly true, rather than 
 plausible. 
 The charm of There is a peculiar charm in artlessness. Whoever seems 
 
 artlessness. ^^ ^^ what he is uot, is always less than he seems. But whoever 
 seems to be just what he is, and nothing more, is more than he 
 seems. For the atmosphere of Heaven plays about his person. 
 He is at ease, as one who has nothing to take care of. Nothing 
 so embarrasses a man as the desire to pass for what he is not. 
 He is disguised and constrained by his heavy armour. He 
 has nothing in common with heaven and angels. Even 
 the children of the field, the primroses and lilies, know him 
 not. They never assume postures or put on airs. They 
 pretend not to be greater or brighter than they are. No 
 sparrow apes the lark, nor the lark the nightingale. Each 
 rests in being what he is, and looks, and speaks, and acts the 
 truth, and nothing more. It is not wonderful therefore, that 
 we find so much more of the spirit of rest by hedge-rows and 
 river-sides, on the hills, and in the woods, than in drawing- 
 rooms. Her Majesty breathes more freely in the Highlands 
 than in Buckingham Palace. In the natural and unconstrained 
 enjoyment of nature, we regard the approach of persons as an 
 intrusion. They remind us of our artificial life, and oppress 
 us. We are awkward until they are gone. This ought not 
 so to be. It would not so be if our lives were simple and 
 true. But we are false and cumbered with falsities, and con- 
 sequently have a dread of our own kind, and are dreaded in 
 return. Could we only be simply true to one another, as 
 nature is to us, instead of banishing, we should enrich each 
 
Sinless anger. 167 
 
 other's freedom. O Jesus, Thou Rose of our human Paradise, 
 and Thou Lily of our valleys, when shall it once be ?* 
 
 2. Anger. " Be ye angry, and sin not." If we are to be Sinless anger. 
 angry, and not to sm, we must never be angry with others, on 
 our own account, but only for their good. If we are to be 
 angry and not to sin, we must be careful that nothing rouses 
 our anger but sin. If we are to be angry, and sin not, love 
 must be the spring and soul of our anger. Even as when we 
 reprove our children, though it be with warmth, or even with 
 mdignation, we are moved by the tenderest affection. So 
 Jesus : " He looked round about on them with anger, being 
 grieved for the hardness of their hearts." Pure love was the 
 soul of His anger. Further, if we are to be angry and sin 
 not, there must be present in our anger a spirit of unfeigned 
 penitence and humility for our own sins. If we are to be 
 angry and sin not, we must not be angry long. It must be 
 soon over, and done with. "Anger rests in^'the bosom of Deadly anger, 
 fools." They know not that they are committing an assault 
 against their own constitution. Anger poisons the blood, 
 agitates the heart, sets up a vicious fire in the brain, makes 
 every nerve in the body tremble, and violently drives away the 
 Holy Spirit from His sanctuary in the soul. Anger utterly 
 disqualifies the soul for meditation and prayer. ^It is the 
 stj-ange fire, which God abhorreth. No one can draw nigh to 
 God while his anger lasts. Therefore the apostle's advice, 
 " Let your anger die before sunset." If you do not, your soul 
 will be a habitation for Satan, and not for the Holy Spirit, 
 
 * " We do not enough dread the slight and continual occasions of offence against Truth 
 \\e resent calumny, hypocrisy and treachery, because they harm us, not because they are 
 untrue. 1 ake the detraction and the mischief from the untruth, and we are little offended by 
 It; turn it mto praise and we may be pleased with it. And yet it is not calumny nor 
 treachery that does the largest sum of mischief in the world. But it is the glistening and 
 softly spoken he, the amiable fallacy, the patriotic lie of the historian, the provident lie of the 
 politician, the zealous he of the partizan, the merciful lie of the friend, and the careless lie of 
 each man to himself, that cast that black mystery over humanity 
 
 "The shortest way to check the darker forms of deceit is to set watch more scrupulous 
 against those which have mingled, unregarded and unchastised, with the current of our life. 
 Do not let us lie at all. Do not think of one falsity as harmless, and another as slight, and 
 another as unintended. Cast them all aside : they are an ugly soot from the smoke of the pit, 
 and It IS better that our hearth should be swept clean of them, without over care as to which 
 of them are largest or blackest. The meagreness of poverty may be pardoned, the sternness 
 ol utility respected; but what is there but scorn for the meanness of deception?"— Ruskin 
 
1 68 
 
 Help men, by your hope of them. 
 
 Provide not 
 room for the 
 devil. 
 
 Stealing. 
 
 Wonders of 
 
 renewing 
 
 grace. 
 
 Help men, by 
 your hope of 
 them. 
 
 through the night. If Satan be with you, he will not be idle, 
 he will strengthen the root of all evil in you. 
 
 Therefore " Give no place to the devil." He can have 
 no other place in you than that which you yield to him. He 
 cannot dwell in you, unless you first provide him with the spirit 
 in which he can dwell. When you give quarter to evil passions 
 you give quarter to him. In love to God, and love to man, he 
 can have no place. In humility and contrition, he can have no 
 place. From our abhorrence of sin, and all our cravings after 
 inwrought purity, he will be a great way off. When we walk 
 in the spirit of the world, in vanity and the lusts of the flesh, 
 when we are self-important, when we are heated with covetous 
 desires, when we are irritable and impatient, we give place to 
 the devil, and he is seated in the house of the soul. 
 
 Lamb of God, come to our help, reign Thou in us, that 
 there may be no place for the evil one, that Satan, when he 
 Cometh, may find nothing in us. 
 
 3. Stealing. " Let him that stole steal no more." It may 
 surely be cited as an evidence of the mighty energy of the 
 Gospel, that it very quietly assumes that men, however depraved 
 they may be, can be cured and made perfect characters. We 
 need not say, can be cured, they have been cured. 
 
 God has no truer, and, perhaps no holier children, than 
 men, who were once deceitful, lying, wrathful, fraudulent and 
 abominably corrupt. We are bound, therefore, to look hope- 
 fully upon the basest of men. Liars and thieves, the revenge- 
 ful and the unclean, may yet be not only new creatures, but 
 "perfect in Christ Jesus." "Such were some of you." Such 
 were many of the glorified spirits, who now walk and shine in 
 the spotlessness of Christ's own purity. 
 
 If we despair of the wicked, so far as our spirit acts upon them, 
 we cut them off from God, and shut them up in the prison of 
 their own wickedness. On the contrary, our hope helps them 
 by secretly disposing them to receive the love of God. From 
 the least light-sparkle of God's love in them, will grow both the 
 inclination and the power to cast off the works of darkness. 
 Perhaps there are no powers or influences in the world which 
 
Divers sorts of stealing. 169 
 
 so effectually bind men to their sins, and hold them back from 
 Christ, as the cold hearts of Christians, who despair of their 
 salvation. 
 
 There is no coldness in the heart of Jesus Christ towards 
 any sinful, or most sinful, creature. The love which God 
 specially commends to us, is His love to men, " while they are 
 yet sinnersl' Christ's word, therefore, to many a poor creature 
 whom He found "dead in sins," and helpless under that death, 
 was as life from the dead. " I do not condemn thee." " Thy 
 sins are forgiven." " Go in peace." " Sin no more." Every 
 such an one, heavily oppressed, and black as night before, 
 walked away with an elastic tread, in the power of a new hope, 
 the hope of becoming a new creature. 
 
 There is the low and coarse species of stealing ; there is also Refined 
 a refined species, which is quite as evil. The tradesman who ^ ^^ '"^' 
 knows that his expenditure is more than the profits of his busi- 
 ness will cover, and yet continues to live, as long as he pos- 
 sibly can, on the capital and goods of his creditors, is a thief. 
 " Let him steal no more ; but let him labour," and live, like an 
 honest man, on the result of his labour. How many widows 
 and elderly people in our day, have been robbed of their all, 
 by joint-stock, thieving companies ! We blush and fear for our 
 country as often as we think of the lying prospectuses, the 
 loud pretensions, and the bold front, (like their architecture,) 
 of our thieving gentry. Leave your fine houses, strip you ot 
 your fine clothes, and inquire by what honest labour you can 
 serve the commonwealth, and earn your own bread. Labour 
 is handsome, but polite thieving is dastardly, infamous. 
 
 "Thou shalt not steal," neither in the rudest, nor in the Divers sorts 
 politest manner. Steal not thy neighbour's character by ° ^ ^^ '"^' 
 private slander. If thou dislikest thy neighbour express it 
 not, lest thou shouldst rob him of the g-oodwill of him who 
 hears thee. Steal not thy neighbour's time. If you are not 
 concerned to fill up your own time with good works, why 
 should you hinder another ? If you steal the time of a dili- 
 gent man, you rob him, and the world too, of a benefit. Steal 
 not the good thoughts of thy neighbour, by occupying his 
 
lyo 
 
 Corrupt speech. 
 
 Work that 
 you may be 
 generous. 
 
 Corrupt 
 speech. 
 
 attention with thy vain thoughts. Steal not the chaste affec- 
 tions of thy neighbour, by leaving upon him the taint of thy 
 foul passion. And before thou alio west thyself by a glance, a 
 touch, or a word, to draw to thee the heart of any creature, 
 inquire whether thou meanest to be true and faithful to that 
 creature for all time ? 
 
 Instead of theft, every species of which is ignoble, the 
 apostle commends to us the nobility of labouring for the 
 benefit of others. Labour that you may have something to 
 give. If you labour for money, that money may make you 
 great, money will degrade and ruin you. If you labour for 
 money, that you may have money to give to those who need it, 
 you will labour temperately, and never be the slave of money. 
 But you should not forget that your friends, neighbours, and 
 fellow-men, have wants which money cannot supply. Moreover 
 the wants which money can supply are but those pertaining to 
 the low sphere of mortal life. Why not labour to overcome 
 your own dulness, and to amass stores of brightness and 
 cheerfulness, that you may have something more precious than 
 money, and more comforting than sunlight, to give to all 
 oppressed and downcast spirits ? Why not labour to master 
 your own sharpness, and to mellow your hardness, that you 
 may be able to refresh men with your ripeness and sweetness? 
 Sour grapes are unpleasant, but a sour man is worse. The 
 sun ripens the grapes, and makes them a luxury for all men. 
 But the love and beaming grace which flow from the spirit and 
 countenance of a good man are a greater luxury. Labour to 
 be a great possessor of the riches of God's Love, that you may 
 have love to give to him that needeth. Nothing is so much 
 needed, all this world over, as greatness of heart between man 
 and man. 
 
 4. Corrupt speech. '^ Let no corrupt commnnicatioyi proceed 
 out of your mouth, but that which is good for profitable edifi- 
 cation, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." 
 
 The gift of speech is man's peculiar glory. It is the sign 
 of his divine nature. It is his verification that he is the child 
 of the Logos. It is an awful thing to abuse and pervert this 
 
Give yesiis your tongue. 1 7 1 
 
 high faculty. It is the organ by which souls communicate with 
 souls. Corrupt souls are diffusing their corruption, and sowing 
 it in other souls, every day, and every hour of the day. Un- 
 regenerate souls will find themselves in eternity, complicated 
 and bound up with all other creatures whom they have affected 
 and corrupted by their tongues. 
 
 Corruption should always be covered and buried. If you Bury your ow-n 
 speak it out, let it be in groans of self-loathing to God, that it '^^"^p'"^'^- 
 may wither and die under the breath of His Holiness. The 
 root that is allowed to put forth leaf and branch, strengthens 
 itself thereby. If you desire a root to die, suffer it not to put 
 forth its life. Suppress, and persist in suppressing the mani- 
 festation of its life, and in due time, it will have no life to 
 manifest. It will be a dead root. You cannot, therefore, 
 over-estimate the wisdom of the Apostle's counsel : " Let no 
 corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." Neither 
 give vent to your own corruption, nor talk of the sins of others. 
 You cannot touch defilement without being defiled. Use your 
 tongue for no purpose by which any hearer could be tainted. 
 If you bring to your friend, or neighbour, a corrupt subject of 
 conversation, at the least you defile two souls, his and your 
 own. It is one of Satan's most subtle arts to lead persons, 
 who perhaps are too proud to commit certain sins, to speak 
 acrainst them with much warmth and self-rio^hteous indiofna- 
 tion. Two great evils are thus done. To talk of corruption 
 is to diffuse it from soul to soul. Also in proportion to the 
 warmth with which any one speaks of the sins of others, he 
 feeds his own spiritual conceit. 
 
 Let your tongue be sacred to that which is innocent, Givejesus 
 beautiful, and good. Let Jesus use your tongue that it may yo"'"^""^«- 
 be an instrument of blessing. Why should your own tongue 
 be your condemnation ? If you do evil to others by the 
 thoughtless use of your tongue, what will you say to them in 
 God's judgment, when they rise up and charge you with 
 the evil } 
 
 Why should you not rather have a multitude of friends, in 
 the judgment, who shall honour and bless you for the good 
 
172 The sensibility of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 which you did them by your tongue ? For the grace which 
 you minister to them by your tongue now, they will minister 
 to you their love in eternity. And in eternal life, he will be 
 richest and happiest, who is loved most. 
 
 Chap. iv. 30-v. 2. — And grieve not the Holy Spirit of 
 God, in W/iovi ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 
 2,1 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, 
 and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice; 
 ^2 And be ye kind one to ajiother, tender-hearted, forgiv- 
 ing one another, as also God in Christ hath forgiven you. 
 Chap V. I. — Be ye folloivers of God, as dear children; 
 2 A nd walk in love, even as Christ also hath loved us, 
 and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to 
 God, for a sweet-smelling savour. 
 
 A tender A most tender appeal to " the new man." Grieve not your 
 
 appea . Comforter ! By your spirit, manners, and speech, you are 
 
 constantly giving either pleasure or pain to those who live with 
 you ; but how much more to the Spirit of God, who dwells not 
 with you, but in you ! From other friends you can hide your 
 thoughts and feelings ; but nothing can be hidden from the 
 Divine Friend, Who lives in the house of your spirit. He 
 .combines the eyes of God, and the Heart of Jesus. The love 
 of your Eternal Father, and the tenderness of your Saviour 
 make one Love-Spirit. Let this Spirit have joy in you, that 
 He may comfort you the more. If He find rest in you. He 
 will assure your hearts before God. 
 
 The sensibility The Sensibility of God's Love-Spirit is infinitely delicate. 
 
 of the Holy ^ie is soon wounded. He has often left you ere you were 
 aware. Until you found the house of your heart cold, dark, 
 and desolate, you knew it not. And when He returns. He is 
 so ardent and tenderly jealous, that if he be not immediately 
 hailed and welcomed, by the mourning desires of the soul, He 
 retires again. " I opened to my Beloved ; but my Beloved 
 had withdrawn Himself, and was gone; my soul failed when 
 
Put away your hard spirit. 1 73 
 
 He spake : I sought Him but I could not find Him ; I called 
 Him but He gave me no answer." Were His love less tender, 
 He would be less easily grieved. We could congratulate no 
 child on having a cold, indifferent mother. It is impossible 
 that we should wish the Holy Spirit to be indifferent to our 
 condition. We will bless Him the more, love Him the more, 
 that He is so soon grieved with us. His love to us " passeth 
 knowledge," and as is His love to us, such is His grief, to find 
 us as He would not. 
 
 You cannot break God's covenant, but you may violate The Seal of 
 your own interest therein. The Holy Spirit is the only seal the Covenant. 
 that you can have, that you are an heir of God. When you 
 grieve the Spirit, you loosen the seal between you and the 
 promised inheritance. If by your continued walking in the 
 spirit of the flesh and the world, you compel the Spirit to 
 depart from you, you break the seal. You can abide in Christ 
 no longer than the Spirit abides in you. " If a man abide not 
 in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered." 
 
 Of what avail will it be to us, in the day of redemption, to " J^^ ^^y o| 
 profess faith in Christ, if the Seal be gone? It is with that day ^^ ^"^^ '°'^' 
 in view that we are charged not to grieve the Holy Spirit. 
 "The day of redemption" is not fully come. It is yet future. 
 " It doth not yet appear what we shall be." There is no believer 
 on earth, perhaps, indeed, there is no saint in Paradise, who can 
 foresee precisely what his condition will be on the great "day of 
 redemption." Take heed, brethren, with a godly fear, lest, a 
 promise being left you of entering into the kingdom of Glory, 
 any of you should come short of it. The Jews, to whom the 
 Gospel was first preached, have not yet entered into the king- 
 dom of grace. " Let us labour therefore to enter into the 
 Heavenly rest, lest any man fall after the same example of 
 disobedience." Heb. iv. u. 
 
 Though this earnest pastor and bishop of souls has spoken 
 plainly before, of what you should put away from you, he Put away your 
 returns to the subject again, reminding you that there are hardspint. 
 certain affections and habits, which, if tolerated, will separate 
 between you and the Holy Spirit. There is a hard and bitter 
 
1 74 Put on grace towards all men. 
 
 spirit in you which is the source of all your perverseness. 
 Anger, clamour, evil-speaking, and all malice, are but the 
 flowing out of your own bitter spirit. A hard, unloving spirit, 
 under the veil of Christianity, is as far from God, as the hard 
 spirit of one who is dead in sin. The Holy Spirit is a sweet 
 spirit of love and goodwill, and is grieved by every manifesta- 
 tion of "bitterness." By "wrath" we must understand any 
 sudden outburst from the bitter fountain in the soul. "Anger," 
 on the other hand, signifies the fretful and irascible habit of 
 this bitterness. A person of the sweetest disposition may be 
 suddenly betrayed into a fit of bitterness ; but an irritable, angry 
 man has suffered this tendency to become his prevailing mood. 
 This is a much more serious evil than an occasional outbreak 
 of "wrath;" and requires much grace and watchfulness to 
 overcome. " Clamour," again, is a sudden noisy ebullition of 
 bitterness in speech, while "evil-speaking" implies that the 
 tongue has surrendered to the habit of bitter speaking. 
 "Malice" signifies the whole tendency of the bitter spirit. If 
 you yield to your own cold and querulous spirit of ill-will, you 
 will grieve, and drive from your breast, God's Holy Spirit of 
 good-will. " Know you not, that to what spirit you yield 
 yourselves servants to obey, his scvvants ye are to luhom 
 you obey f' 
 Amiahiiity, Somc persous have very little bitterness to put away; they 
 
 not gincc. ^j-g constitutionally meek and amiable. Others are constitu- 
 tionally hard and bitter. Let not the amiable extol themselves 
 over the unamiable; for there are amiable spirits which have 
 even a smaller measure of the Holy Spirit, than the unamiable. 
 Some are very amiable, and also very carnal ; while their un- 
 amiable fellow-members display much more grace and spiri- 
 tuality. You will find some sharp-tempered persons who 
 exercise a great deal of self-control, and also many sweet 
 tempered persons who are the enemies of the cross of Christ. 
 rut on grace " Be ye gracious one to another; " "tender-hearted" towards 
 
 the unhappy; and "forgiving" towards those who have wronged 
 you, or fallen into sin. Put away all ungraciousness : put on 
 graciousness. Show that you live, move, and have your being 
 
 towards all 
 
Be to them, what you wish God to be to yon. 175 
 
 in the sunny element of God's love. Let the grace of God, 
 always, and towards every one, prevail over your own tendency 
 to coldness and hardness. " God in Christ" has displayed no 
 bitterness towards you. He has been kind, tender-hearted, 
 and forgiving towards you. He expects you to abound in the 
 same grace towards all men. Remember, that what you desire Be to them, 
 God in Christ to be to you, is to be your golden rule towards God to^beTo 
 your fellow creatures. If you fail to observe this rule towards you- 
 them, you will suffer for it before the judgment seat of Christ. 
 " O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because 
 thou desiredst Me: shouldst not thou also have had compas- 
 sion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee ?" Read 
 also verses xa. and -^S- Matt, xviii. 
 
 Our translators should not have translated h yjiarui^ "for ^j/'xp<(TT<pis 
 Christ's sake." It is not only an unwarrantable translation, ^hril'/ssak " 
 but false teaching. It intimates that Christ supplied God with 
 a motive for His grace. Whereas Christ Himself is "the gift 
 of God." "The Father sent the Son to be Saviour of the 
 world." " I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came i john iv. 14. 
 I of Myself, but He sent Me." "God so loved the world, that John vUi. 42. 
 He gave His Only-Begotten Son." The sufferings and death johnUi. 16. 
 of Christ, were but the way which the Father took, to reveal, 
 and bring nigh to us, " the great love wherewith He loved us, 
 even when we were dead in sin." " God commendeth His 
 Love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died 
 for us." In Christ, and through Christ, the gracious disposi- Rom. v. 8. 
 tion of our God toward us finds free scope and play. " God 
 is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 
 
 The Beauty of the Divine Glory having once passed before 
 us, in the short vision of Jesus' Human Life, eloquence, 
 poetry, music, painting, sculpture, have ever since been labour- 
 ing to represent That Man. The Son of God has taken 
 captive the passion, thought, and genius of men, by Him- 
 self living as Man. " Thou hast given Me Power over all 
 flesh." " All flesh shall see the salvation of our God." Jesus 
 is not only the Head of Humanity, but the Feet also. Quite 
 as much in what is lowest, as in what is highest, He has the 
 pre-eminence. 
 
176 
 
 Copy God, by copying Christ. 
 
 Copy God, 
 by copying 
 Christ. 
 
 Matt. xi. 29. 
 John xiii. 15. 
 Phil, ii, 5. 
 I John ii. 6. 
 
 " The Beauty 
 of God " is 
 also beauty for 
 man. 
 
 Because Jesus is God in man He will not make haste. He 
 knows the end too well to be impatient. He knows that men 
 themselves will not rest till all men follow Him. " I will draw 
 all men unto Me." 
 
 The word " followers " expresses the sense too loosely. 
 " Be ye close i^nitators of God, as beloved children." Some of 
 His children, by ceasing to copy Him, have ceased to be His 
 children. No trace of their parentage remains in them. Jesus 
 copied God. He sacrificed Himself for us, that He might be 
 a perfect copy -of God. If, therefore, we imitate God, we 
 must "walk in love, as Christ loved us," " Learn of Me." "I 
 have given you an example." " Let this mind be in you which 
 was also in Christ Jesus." " He that saith he abideth in Him, 
 ought himself so to walk, even as He walked''' i John ii. 6. 
 
 It is much easier for children to scribble at random, than 
 to imitate their copy. It is likewise easier for Christians to 
 fall into their own spirit, than to imitate the example which 
 God has given us in His Son. And I fear it must be said, 
 There are no children who set their copy at nought, as some 
 Christians do, the example of Christ. There are very few 
 who imitate God, as carefully as school -boys imitate their 
 copy. They are constantly lifting their eyes to the copy, 
 while they suffer every movement of their hand to be controlled 
 thereby. Are Christians in general half so careful to walk "as 
 Christ walked?" God, in His Son, is "the perfection of 
 Beauty," and His children should be varieties of the same 
 beauty. " Let the Beauty of The Lord our God be upon us." 
 
 God has no other means of making His children admirable, 
 than by winning them to the imitation of Himself The be- 
 loved children of God, are His loving children. He has 
 shown them, in Christ, how dear they are to Him ; and it is 
 the joy of their hearts to praise and magnify His Love. To 
 extol Him in words and hymns is well ; to extol Him by 
 embodying His Spirit of Love in your lives, is much better. 
 By loving Him we come to possess Him, and by possessing 
 Him, we reflect Him; and as in possessing Him, is all our 
 wealth and joy, so in reflecting Him, lies all our beauty. By 
 
The gain of sacrifice. 1 7 7 
 
 loving Him and aiming to please Him, you will come to wear 
 more and more of His Beauty. 
 
 By sacrificing His Humanity to God for us, Christ has The gain of 
 shown us the endless profit and glory which w^ill follow, if 
 yielding to the fervour of the Divine Love, we also offer up 
 ourselves an offering and a sacrifice to God. The Spirit of 
 Christ, Which by the prophets testified beforehand the suffer- 
 ings of Christ, spoke even more fully and frequently of " the 
 glory that should follow." And by going before us through 
 time, to the glories of Eternity, Jesus has not only opened the 
 way, but, as our Captain, led us in the way. " Christ suffered 
 for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His 
 steps." " Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, i Pet. n. 21. 
 ^' arm yoiir selves with the same niindr If we "walk in love as i Pet. iv. i. 
 Christ loved us," the sweetness of His sacrifice will become 
 effectual in us, and be a sweet smelling savour to God. But 
 all our prayers and solemnities, and all our faith and zeal, are 
 nothing to God, if the spirit which was in Christ Jesus be not 
 in us. He has told us beforehand that there are " many" who 
 will call Him " Lord, Lord," to whom He will have to say, 
 " Depart from Me, I know you not." Christ in us is Salvation. 
 Christ's death rested in, but not fulfilled in the soul, is delusion. 
 " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affec- 
 tions and lusts." Gal. v. 24. " Knowing this, that our old man Gai. v. 24. 
 is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
 that henceforth we should not serve sin." Rom. vi. 6. " Now Rom. vi. 6. 
 if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live 
 with Him." ver. 8. It will be better for us not to think that we VerspviW. 
 can live with Him on any other than these New Testament 
 conditions.* 
 
 AN EASTERN PARABLE. 
 * A pious man of old, living in the East, having three sons and an immense fortune, made 
 the following proposals to his sons, when they were grown to manhood : " Go," said he, " my 
 sons, from my roof for one month, and return ; he that performs during his absence, the best 
 and noblest deed, shall receive one-half my estate, and the other half shall be divided between 
 the other two brothers." They went, and returned at the stipulated time. The eldest began 
 the story of his month's philanthropy. " I was walking along the banks of one of our native 
 streams, and I heard the shrieks of a female. I hastened to the spot from whence the cry pro- 
 ceeded, and lo ! it was a mother in the very act of leaping into the flood to save her boy, an 
 only child of four years old, who had fallen in, and the waters were choking his life. Had the 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 Christ has overthrown the world. 
 
 Chap, v. 3-10. — But fornication, and all unclean- 
 ness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, 
 as becometh saints ; 4 Neither filtJnness, nor foolish 
 talking nor jestitig, which are not becoming, but rather 
 g iving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremojiger, 
 nor unclean person, nor covetous man, zvho is an idolater, 
 hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 
 6 Let no man deceive you zuith vain zvords : for becaitse 
 of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children 
 of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with 
 them. 8 For ye were once darktiess, but now are ye light 
 in the Lord: walk as children of Light : 9 {For the fruit 
 of the L ight is in all goodness and righteo2isness and truth :) 
 10 Proving what is acceptable to the Lord. 
 
 Christ has We need not compare the Christian Church with heathenism, 
 
 the oid°worid. ^'^^ ^^e Christian world, as compared with heathenism, is a new 
 
 world. Compared with the masses, as they were before Christ, 
 
 multitudes of our unrenewed men are perfect saints. Though 
 
 mother made the desperate leap, they both must have perished together. I bade her desist and 
 I plunged into the roaring current. By hard struggling I saved the drowning child, and 
 restored him to the arms of his mother. 
 
 "Thou hast indeed done noljly, my son: immortality shall record that deed, and the 
 mother shall cherish thy memory with tears of gratitude. My second son, what hast thou to 
 say?" " Father," said he, " in my journey I found an old man lying on his couch, feeble 
 and decrepit ; he could not walk nor rise up. Two little children were left with him ; their 
 parents had gone to a neighbouring town, about ten miles distant. The old man was sighing 
 heavily, and the children wept bitterly. The bleak winds murmured through the trees ; the 
 ground was covered with snow ; the cold was ])iercing and terrible. ' And will your parents 
 return to-night,' I enquired of the lad, as he stirred up the little fire on the earth. ' They have 
 been gone four days,' was the reply, ' and we are starving, and can neither go for food, nor for 
 father and mother !'" I hurried back to the nearest house I had left, to obtain food for these 
 famishing ones, and information of the parents. The former I procured, but of the latter I 
 could obtain no tidings. I went in search of them, and when within a mile of the village, I 
 was informed, to my amazement, that they had been found dead, having perished in the snow! 
 I need only say these orphans, and the more helpless old man, are to share in my patrimony 
 whatever it may be." 
 
 The fatlier burst into tears, and could only say, " The youngest brother." The youngest 
 son now began : — " On my return homeward, liaving almost despaired of accomplishing my 
 wishes, I found a man prostrate and bleeding on the cold ground. He was my lu'ttcr atcmy. 
 He must have perished in a few hours had there been no assistance. I took him to a hospitable 
 shelter, and he is rapidly recovering." " My dear boy," said the father, "to thee, to thee, 
 belongs the reward ! Were it the world, thou shouldest have it. Thou hast sanctified 
 humanity, and spread the ante-past of heaven. Thy brothers have done well, nobly : but 
 thou hast acted God-like ! Thine is the spirit of heaven." 
 
Foolish talking and jesting, 1 79 
 
 not professing faith in Christ, their nature has been greatly 
 modified by Him. In a certain sense, they have been renewed, 
 and they know it not. Unawares, the generations have received 
 a moral tone, and even a new ground of thought, from Christ. 
 Whether men will or not, Christ is forming them. Compare 
 even our civil laws with the religions of the old world, and you 
 will be compelled to acknowledge that the powers of darkness 
 have wonderfully given way before the kingdom of Heaven. 
 Things which are now held in abomination by the whole of 
 Europe, were not only tolerated, but encouraged in the very 
 temples of heathendom. 
 
 To his converts from heathenism, Paul writes : Let not 
 your old vices be once named among you, as becometh saints. 
 Every species of uncleanness is more than an offence, it is an 
 outrage, against the new nature in Christ. The breast of a 
 Christian disciple is to be sacred to the purity of God and Waytoheii. 
 heaven. Beware of a passion, which, though called by the 
 name of love, is the filthy fire of hell, and desolates the soul 
 of every pure affection and good tendency. Cultivate a very 
 horror of uncleanness. " The pleasures of sin " destroy the 
 aptitude of the soul for the pleasures of Heaven. 
 
 Beware also of covetousness. Uncleanness and covetous- covetousness 
 ness are very distinct sins, but they have one root. They is also a way. 
 are the working and manifestation of the same fallen spirit. 
 The covetous man may have a proud contempt for the dissolute; 
 but he is greatly unclean in the sight of God. He is spiritually 
 an adulterer. He is turned away from God to mammon. 
 And mammon holds his slaves more tenaciously than Venus. 
 Twenty will grow weary of the service of the goddess, before 
 one will withdraw from the service of mammon. If mammon 
 has your soul, God can only have the profession of your soul, 
 not your soul. " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
 Covetousness being a greediness for gain, a craving for one's 
 personal advantage, is not only incompatible with true love to 
 God, but destructive of love to our neighbour. 
 
 Likewise "foolish talking and jesting," than which nothing pooiish talk- 
 is more common in the world, are to be held in dis-esteem by pg and 
 
 jesting. 
 
An offence 
 against the 
 dignity of our 
 new life. 
 
 1 80 An offence against the dignity of the new life, 
 
 all Christians. They should look upon themselves as a new 
 order among men. Things which are regarded with favour 
 by the children of time, are to be abominated by the heirs of 
 an eternal royalty. There is no relation between jesting and 
 the end which a Christian has in view. " Foolish talking and 
 jesting " are not only unsuitable to his character, but inimical 
 to his preparation for heavenly society. They profane his 
 spirit, and make him less susceptible of Divine Wisdom. 
 They are therefore, " not convenient," that is, not adapted to 
 reach the end which he contemplates. 
 
 To many persons, the condemnation of "foolish talking and 
 jesting" will seem needlessly severe. Jesting is evidently 
 regarded as comparatively innocent. The liveliness and good 
 humour of certain spirits overflow in this way. Very estimable 
 Christian men and women, without a scruple, make themselves 
 and others merry by witticism and banter. It is as natural for 
 them to jest when they are in a genial mood, as to eat when 
 they are hungry. But this playful agility and friskiness of 
 spirit are much more related to the baboon, than the angel- 
 species of humanity. It is shallow and frivolous, and has 
 absolutely no relation to the serene joy of wisdom and goodness. 
 Its characteristic is a grin, which is not a sign that the heart 
 is full of either truth or gladness, but rather that it is empty of 
 both. If we keep before us the serene dignity and royalty of 
 our new nature in Christ, we shall be in little danger of yielding 
 to buffoonery. Foolish talking and Divine Wisdom have 
 nothing in common. Jesting is greatly at variance with a 
 reverential spirit. We can imagine great cheerfulness, a " ful- 
 ness of joy," in Heaven, but we cannot imagine a jester there. 
 Loquacity, joking, and playing the fool, cannot befit divine 
 men and women, who are expecting shortly to be introduced 
 to innumerable angels, and the " saints in light." 
 
 Holy mirth becomes us ; Christians, above all men, should 
 "abound in thanksgiving." But let us beware of the mirth of 
 fools, which is " as the crackling of thorns under a pot." " The 
 end of that mirth is heaviness." Even Seneca said : " True 
 joy is a severe thing." 
 
The en f icing Gospel. i8i 
 
 Christ redeems us from the shallow mirth of the world, 
 which is the mirth of folly, to the joy of wisdom, which is the 
 joy of God, and which fills heaven, and will fill eternity with 
 delight and song. But the Holy Spirit testifies and forewarns 
 us, that there is no gate of grace which will admit any soul 
 into heaven, without personal holiness. No unclean spirit, 
 nor any mammon-loving man, hath any inheritance in the 
 kingdom of God. Christ saves men in no other way than by 
 constituting them exalted and glorious characters. And the 
 only method known to Him, of giving to men true nobility of 
 character, is by making them " partakers of the Divine Nature." 
 Even coming to Jesus is of no value to the soul, unless it be 
 followed by the interior growth of a Christ-like nature. To 
 certain converts, who had experienced great blessedness in 
 their first knowledge of Christ, Paul writes : " My little 
 children, of whom I travail in birth again tmtil Christ be 
 formed in yott For I stand in doubt of you." Gal. iv. 19, 20. 
 
 The degenerate teachers and preachers who were springing The enticing 
 up in the Church, and drawing away multitudes of disciples [J°^p q\' ^J^^'^^ 
 after them, were a sore affliction to the apostles. According Christ." 
 to these new teachers, salvation does not consist in making 
 men partakers of Christ, and thus Christ-like, but by a direct 
 act of sovereign grace, irrespective of their renewal in right- 
 eousness and true holiness. " Certain men have crept in," 
 writes St Jude, "who turn the grace of our God into lascivi- 
 ojsness." And in all his epistles Paul bears his testimony 
 against " the enticing words " of " another gospel," and warns 
 the Churches of the " false apostles," and " deceitful workers," 
 who were "transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." 2 Cor. xi. 13. 
 
 " I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy I fear 
 
 lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his 
 subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity 
 that is in Christ." " Beware lest any man spoil you through 2 Cor. xi. 2, 3. 
 philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the 
 elements of the world, and not after Christ." " Beware!" we Col. ii. 8. 
 repeat in this late age, of a plausible gospel, which is " after 
 
1 82 TJie way of presumption and delnsion. 
 
 men," and "after the world," but *' not after ChristT " Let 
 no man deceive you with vain words." Beware of teachers 
 who too readily enlist your sympathies. Perhaps their own 
 advantage may be their chief end. One of Paul's maxims 
 was: "If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." 
 There is a honied gospel which is one of Satan's most success- 
 ful traps. " And no marvel ; for Satan himself is transformed 
 into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his 
 2 Cor. xi. 14. ministers also be transformed as the ministers of rigrhteousness." 
 ^' When words of grace, promise in God's name, what God will 
 
 never fulfil, delighted hearers are deceived by " vain words." 
 Instead of the Holy Body and Blood of their Lord, they receive 
 a piece of Satan's honey-comb. And we cannot be surprised 
 that Satan's honey-comb-gospel, which spares the flesh and its 
 affections, should have more believers among men, than 
 " Christ's Gospel," which crucifies the soul to the world, and 
 the world to the soul. How could the Gospel which Paul 
 preached be popular in such an age as this ? For example, 
 that every " covetous man is an idolater," and that no such 
 • man " hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of 
 God." The popular gospel, by a plausible handling of the 
 sufferings and death of Christ, opens a very "wide gate" to 
 the kingdom of heaven, a gate which passes men on, without 
 requiring them to be qualified. But Paul cries back over the 
 centuries, " Let no man deceive you with vain words." A 
 Gospel which comforts men, but does not "transform" them, 
 "renew" them, make them "new creatures," "partakers of 
 Christ," and " changed into the same image," may carry them 
 to the gate of heaven ; but " from the very gate of heaven there 
 is a way which leads to hell." 
 The way of If thousauds and tens of thousands should presume upon 
 
 presumption ^^ gospel, and hope for eternal life, while they walk after the 
 
 and delusion. /i 1 1 r 1 • • /->i • 1 tt- 11 
 
 flesh, and not after the spirit, Christ and His apostles have 
 forewarned you that it is the way of delusion. Thou shalt not 
 follow the multitude. " Be not ye partakers with them." If 
 you are found at last to partake of the character of the un- 
 
The fruit of Chrisfs light. 1 83 
 
 regenerate, you will surely partake with them of " the wrath 
 of God." 
 
 " If you say that you have fellowship with Christ, and walk 
 in darkness, you lie, and do not the truth." The name of 
 Christ will not benefit you, unless you walk in His light. If 
 you walk in the light, as He is in the light, His blood is 
 cleansing you from all sin ; but not otherwise. " Many " are i John i. 7. 
 still in Adam, who think they are " in Christ." That is, their 
 sympathies and affections remain with their first nature. 
 Therefore their sin remaineth. They have lost sight of the 
 necessity of being "created anew." Salvation is unison with 
 Christ. Our supreme affections cannot be set both on new 
 human nature, as it is in Jesus glorified, and also on "the old 
 man." Be faithful with yourselves. God is not to be mocked 
 by names or appearances. In what direction do your affections 
 move ? What is the prevailing character of your thoughts ? 
 Are your tastes those of the world, worldly, or are they changed 
 and renewed by the Spirit of Christ? Are your eye and heart 
 fixed on your risen Lord, and has He an actual supremacy over 
 your spirit ? or, are His purity and sweetness quenched in 
 your carnal mind ? 
 
 If you are " light in the Lord," His light will bring forth The fruit of 
 its own fruit in your life. " The fruit of the light is in all ^''"'^'' "^^*" 
 goodness, and righteousness, and truth." "Jesus Christ is the 
 same to-day, yesterday, and for ever," — goodness itself, right- 
 eousness itself, truth itself. And all who name the name of 
 Christ, must see that they depart from whatever is contrary to 
 His Divine Nature. If therefore an angel should preach unto 
 you doctrines of grace, which do not teach the necessity of 
 possessing and manifesting the goodness, righteousness, and 
 truth of Christ, be you sure that he is no angel of the Lord, 
 but a "Satan, clothed as an angel of light." If the salvation 
 of Christ made us partakers of eternal blessedness, apart from 
 giving to us Godlike natures and characters, then (horrible 
 thought !) Christ would be guilty of setting at nought the char- 
 racter and glory of God. 
 
 There is therefore no more Christianity in the Church than 
 
184 Thefniit of Chris fs light. 
 
 its members possess of "the goodness, righteousness, and truth 
 of Christ." To be "accepted in the Beloved" is to be filled 
 and clothed with what is beloved in Him. You must be made 
 good in His Goodness, righteous in His Righteousness, and 
 true in His Truth, before you can "prove" or experience 
 "what is acceptable unto the Lord." 
 
 The good, the right, and the true, are the unswerving and 
 eternal principles of the Divine Nature. There can be no 
 variableness, nor the shadow of a turning here. Jesus revealed 
 no other name of God than was proclaimed to Moses. " The 
 Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord 
 God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in 
 goodness and truth." In the work of our salvation no new 
 attribute is brought into display. The one Unchangeable 
 Lord God, in order to our salvation, has brought the holiness 
 of His Truth, and the meekness of His Glory, into our nature. 
 The great work of reconstituting, transmuting our nature, is 
 finished in the Person of Christ, that the Spirit of His Life 
 may change us into the same image. " Ye are complete in 
 Him." If His goodness, righteousness and truth reign in you, 
 " they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful 
 in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But He that 
 lacketh these things is " both " blind " and barren. God's 
 " abundance of grace " is an abundance " of the gifts of right- 
 eousness." The only mercy which God sheds upon any soul, 
 is the mercy which leads him, step by step, in the regeneration 
 and renewal of his nature. 
 
 Chap. v. 11- 17. — And have no fellowship with the 
 nnfruitfiil ivorks of darkness, but rather reprove them. 
 1 2 For it is a shame even to speak of those things zuhich 
 are done of them in secret. 1 3 But all things that are 
 reproved are made manifest by the light : for zvhatsoever 
 doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore He saith. 
 Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and 
 
Satan's masterpiece. 185 
 
 Christ shall give thee light. 1 5 See then that ye zvalk 
 circumspectly, not as fools, bnt as wise, \6 Redeeming the 
 time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore ye are not 
 nnwise, but understanding ivhat the will of the Lord is. 
 
 When Cambyses would defend himself against the Egyp- Satan's 
 tians, he hit upon the clever stratagem of putting between them "^^^terpiece. 
 and his army, lhei7'- own gods. They will not assault their own 
 gods. This Is Satan's favourite method. He conceals the 
 front of his hostility, under the name and cloak of Christ. By 
 a subde, plausible simulation of Christianity, he carries on a 
 most successful war against the design of Christ. " I fear," 
 said Paul, and events prove how much reason he had to fear, 
 " lest you should fall a prey to the artifice of that old Serpent — 
 Intellect, which beguiled 'the angel-creature,' Eve. 'I am 
 jealous over you with a godly jealousy,' lest your minds should 
 be corrupted, and your life in Christ supplanted by a crafty 
 semblance.'" Indeed it was expressly revealed to the apostles 
 by the Spirit, that the Church would be inundated by "seducing 
 spirits and doctrines of demons." Falsities spoken with hypo^ 
 critical sanctity, untruths speciously clothed, draw away many 
 from the truth. A seven-headed conspiracy against the "sym- 
 plicity that Is In Christ," from the loudness of Its pretensions, 
 and the solemnity of its bearing, finds favour with multitudes. 
 The most deeply reddened lie that ever was, or will be, current 
 among men, claims for itself the sole vicarious authority of the 
 Lord Jesus. The most haughty hiding-place of the Prince of 
 darkness is under the Name of Christ. " I am Christ," — the 
 only True Vicar and Representative of Christ on the earth. 
 " Here Is the Mind which hath Wisdom !"— the seven-headed Rev. xiii. 1,2 
 haughty wisdom, associated with an Insatiable lust for spiritual 
 dominion. 
 
 As foreseen by the apostles, so has It come to pass. Whole 
 legions and nations are ensnared by the arrogant claims and 
 reasonings of the archangel Satan. Under assumptions of 
 superior sanctity and devotion, he carries on his most defiant 
 works. A very "mystery of iniquity" In the name of Jesus! 
 
1 86 
 
 Look at home. 
 
 Stand fast in 
 the Lord. 
 
 Rev. xiii. i8. 
 
 Put on 
 meekness. 
 
 Look at home. 
 
 " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in 
 princes." The princes of the intellect are more dangerous 
 than the princes of the world. The self-styled princes of the 
 Church are both more vain and crafty than all other princes 
 put together. If we are not to be taken in any of the meshes 
 of the six hundred and sixty-six-fold serpentine wisdom, we 
 must be suspicious of the great organizations of men, and sit 
 with singrleness of heart and fixedness of resolve at the feet of 
 Jesus. The simplicity of the life of Christ in us, is our only 
 safeguard. And in no other spirit must we venture to reprove 
 the subtleties of the seven-headed corruption. " Let him that 
 hath understanding count the number of the beast : for it is 
 the number of a man." 
 
 The light of Jesus is very meek. The wisdom of the 
 world is arrogant. By the meekness of your light, and the mild- 
 ness of your goodness, reprove the pride and vainglory of the 
 Church of the serpent. By the sweetness of your holiness, 
 reprove their hollow sanctity. By a Jesus-like transparency 
 of character, reprove the stealthiness of their plots. 
 
 To dwell on the works of darkness which were done in 
 ancient Greece and Rome would be very unprofitable. What 
 pen would dare to write, what eye endure to read, the things 
 which are done all the year round in Paris and London .'^ No 
 villager need wander from his own village, in order to find 
 works which will not bear the light. Indeed we need not go 
 any whither exploring, we need not leave our own door ; we 
 may find within our own breasts more than enough to humble 
 us. Let each of us sit still, and keep watch for a while in the 
 silent house of his spirit : he will find things transpiring there 
 which will suggest self-abhorrence, and clothe him with shame 
 before God. Not only the kingdom of heaven, but the king- 
 dom of darkness also is very nigh unto us, and comes without 
 observation. Let us watch and pray, that we may have grace 
 and strength enough to disown the inward imagery, with 
 which it seeks to fascinate and pollute the heart. Let us hold 
 no fellowship with the thoughts, which it stirs in us. Let us 
 drag them before the light of God, that they may be made 
 manifest, and reproved there. 
 
A " death hath passed on all men.''' 187 
 
 Christ is the Light of God. " I am the Light of the world." ^"^^^^^^ 
 " If I had not come you had not known sin." Nature and the '^ 
 world only reprove the things which are adverse to their own 
 order. There are innumerable acts of sin against God, which 
 nature has no means of revealing, nor the authority to reprove. 
 Nature judges not of herself according to eternal laws, but 
 only according to her own laws. The children of this 
 world, therefore, will not come to the Light, Christ, lest they 
 should see themselves in a painful light, and be reproved for 
 much which the natural light of their conscience never reproves, 
 
 "Death hath passed upon all men." But the same crafty a "death 
 spirit which once said, "You shall not surely die," persuades ^if J^p^''^^ ""^ 
 men that death hath not passed upon them. The false spirit 
 contends that it is not death, because it is an intelligent, active, 
 enjoyable life. And men, from the beginning, have believed 
 the false spirit rather than God ; for he reasons in accordance 
 with the thoughts, feelings, and tastes of their fallen nature. But 
 the truth of God confounds them. They cannot imagine that 
 it can be death to be carnally minded, seeing that this carnality 
 of mind is susceptible of a wide variety of pleasure. But death 
 which was not a life could not be adverse to God, and there- 
 fore it could not be sin. If death be God's enemy it must be 
 an active life. Nothing short of a personal will, at variance 
 with God, could be His enemy. All natural men rejoice under 
 the reign of the great and potent prince, which God calls 
 death ; and the evidence which they give of being " dead 
 while they live," is, that they are satisfied with dead pos- 
 sessions, dead honours, and dead glory. As God understands 
 death, they are dead. Within their temporal nature there is 
 an eternal man, and this is the man which lies in a deep sleep or 
 death. Their fine immortal powers are under the eclipse of 
 their natural reason, in a delicious stupor, through the opiate- 
 delights of the senses. We know that men can think, talk, do 
 business, and find pleasure, in sleep, without dreaming that they 
 dream. And myriads of ardent, busy, intelligent men, are 
 but dreamy sleep-walkers before God. But the Great Father 
 loves His dreamers, and would that they saw the True Light, 
 
1 88 The Awakener is in every sleeper. 
 
 and knew the True Life. As near as is the ho-ht to one 
 sleeping in the Hght, so near is Christ, the Awakener, to every 
 eternal man, deeply as he may be asleep within his outer man. 
 The sleeper has no sensibility of the light till he awakes, nor 
 has the eternal soul in man, any sensibility of Christ, till he 
 wakes and rises from his state of death. 
 
 When men dream that they dream they are not far from 
 awaking. When the eternal light first startles the sleeper a 
 strange experience ensues. What he took himself to be he is 
 not. A dignity of which he had no suspicion he discerns to 
 be his own distinction. He is a spirit-child of God, an immor- 
 tal. His life heretofore has been but a busy grave in 
 which his true life has been fast asleep, dead in sleep. But 
 the voice of the Son of God has roused him. He can sleep 
 no longer. He must rise and shake Satan's nio^htmare from his 
 spirit. He parts company with the dead, for the life of Christ 
 is pressing into him, and henceforth he is of the number of 
 those who live unto God. That which makes manifest to us 
 the grandeur of our nature, and the grandeur of our hope is 
 light. Christ invades the soul, and it is day. Blessed inva- 
 sion ! The soul is a new creature. Heaven and earth are new. 
 Beyond the plain of the worldly life, the heavenly mountains 
 to which we are journeying come into view. 
 The Awakener God would uot mock man by bidding him to "awake" out of 
 See" er^"^ death, and to arise to a new life, if the Awakener were not in 
 the very midst of his soul to help him. God calls man from 
 within himself. " The Resurrection and the Life" stirs in him, 
 saying, " Arise from the dead ! " and the man is already at the 
 dawn of the heavenly life. As sun-rise pricks the sleeper, and 
 says to him. Arise ! even so the hour cometh when the dead 
 John V. 25. soul hears the voice of the Son of Man, and hearing, lives. The 
 gentleness of the Divine Love opens a new day within the 
 man, and ten thousand noiseless arrows penetrate and startle 
 his soul. They are the life-glances of the Ouickener, to which 
 the inner man responds, trembling in the pangs of the new 
 birth, and, at the same time, blessing God with unspeakable 
 Madness, that he is alive from the dead and an heir of heaven. 
 
Make time serve your Eternal good. 1 89 
 
 It happens daily that after the light has penetrated the eye- 
 lid of the sleeper, he recognises it for a moment, turns himself, 
 closes his lid, and sleeps again. Take heed, lest after the arrows 
 of Christ, which are gentler than the light, have wakened your 
 soul, you do not sleep on in death. If, after you have discovered 
 that Christ is the light of your soul's eternal life, you prefer to 
 abide in your own carnality, which is death, rather than receive 
 the Spirit of Christ, which is life and peace, you ought not to 
 forget that you have, as an act of your choice, made a league 
 with death. 
 
 Not only give a thousand welcomes to the new morning of Waikimhe 
 your life and hope in Christ, but see that you walk in His light cfr'^efJir^ ^"^^^^ 
 circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. As wakened travellers, 
 with your hearts set on your journey's end, cautiously avoid all 
 bye-paths. These alluring bye-paths all lead into the broad, 
 tempting, highway of death. Countless appeals from without, 
 and soft motions from within, will unceasingly entice you aside. 
 It is the part of fools to set their hearts on the right end, but 
 to lose sight of the means by which it can be reached. It is 
 the part of fools to call Jesus, Captain, and after that to follow 
 not Him, but the world. Christ, Who has awakened you out of 
 sleep, is Himself your way home. Walking in Him, you walk 
 in a Living Way. A Living Way gives life to those who 
 walk in it. The life which the W^ay, Christ, gives to the 
 traveller gradually renews him, and qualifies him for his celestial 
 Home-life. Walk carefully, therefore, "as wise men." For 
 if you slip out of the Living Way, and still think that you are 
 travelling to your heavenly home, you are not wise. The 
 spirit of the world is befooling you. You are not redeeming 
 the time. Time is unfitting you for the end of your time. 
 
 There is no other way of buying up the time, and turning Make time 
 it to your eternal profit, than by watchfully, prayerfully, day by ^^ne your 
 day, walking in Christ. To " walk according to the course of ^^^^ ^°° * 
 this world," and the motions of your own carnal hearts, is more 
 than to lose time. You are being both cheated and injured 
 on your way. By flattering and decoying influences, time is 
 succeeding in corrupting your heart; and instead of becoming 
 
190 Make thne serve your eternal good. 
 
 " meet for the inheritance of saints in hght," you are in 
 danger, on your arrival in eternity, of being found earthly 
 spirits, and disqualified for the heavenly life. Because of the 
 specious influences which are inseparable from these days of 
 your pilgrimage, they are called " evil days." Whether you 
 redeem them or not, the days run on. Buy up the evil days. 
 Number them, and look constantly to the end of them, that 
 you may apply your hearts unto wisdom. Press the days 
 into your service by pressing after Christ through all your 
 days. Sow your prayers into the heart of God. Compel 
 time to lay up treasures for you in your eternal home. By 
 faith and prayer, bring the Spirit of your Lord out of eternity 
 into your soul ; so shall you redeem time from time, and make 
 it broaden your inheritance, multiply your friends, and increase 
 your immortal honour and blessedness. 
 
 And this is " the will of the Lord " concerning you. He 
 not only desires to save you, and see you for ever in heaven, 
 but it concerns His glory that your reward should be great. 
 The more you reflect Him, the greater will be His glory and 
 your glory. He would that distinguished honours should 
 accrue to you through all future ages, from your life in time. 
 On the other hand, it is Satan's desire, and the constant aim 
 of all evil spirits, to get you so to live in time, that hereafter 
 you shall reap no advantage from it, but rather confusion and 
 dismay. It will be a source of malignant satisfaction to them, 
 if, when your time is run out, instead of being nearer the end 
 of your faith, you are farther off than ever from the salvation 
 of your souls. Many, saith the Lord, who doubt not that 
 they are mine, will awake from death to find that they have 
 lost their time, and lost heaven. Time will not of itself bring 
 forth in you the pre-requisites of your future honour and blessed- 
 ness. Unless by your fixed, earnest will, you compel the flying 
 days to contribute to your heavenly interests, time will most 
 certainly qualify you for time, and not for eternity. But by 
 bringing into time the Spirit of Christ, you can over-master 
 the spirit of this world, and compel time to serve your 
 eternity. Thus, instead of selling yourselves to time, you 
 
Ditty a7id inclinatioti at one. iqi 
 
 will redeem^ time. Think of the noble recompences which 
 some, now in heaven, are reaping from' the use which they 
 made of time. Think also of the losses" and pains which de- 
 parted souls must be suffering, who, instead of subjecting time 
 to Divine influences and eternal considerations, suffered them- 
 selves to be wholly brought under the dominion of time. In 
 Christ, you are time's master ; in the spirit of the world, you 
 are time's slave. 
 
 Chap. v. 18-21. — And be not drunk with wine, 
 wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speak- 
 ing to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
 songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the 
 Lord; 20 Giving thanks always, for all things, unto 
 God and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves to one another in the 
 fear of Christ. 
 
 Ultimately, then, duty and inclination are to be one. For Duty and in- 
 nothing is so tempting as spirit, more spirit. Whatever pro- ^''"ation at 
 mises to inspirit us, is attractive in that proportion. To be °"^' 
 filled with spirit, with the Right Spirit, the Good Spirit, the 
 joy-mspiring Spirit, the ever-living, ever-young Spirit, is at 
 once the call of God, and the condition of pure pleasure. Only 
 m this way can God fill up our cup of joy, by filling us with 
 His Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit, is stricdy to be filled 
 with Divine hilarity. " The fruit of the Spirit is joy." Hence, Gai. v. 22. 
 in the passage now under consideration, Paul makes the con- 
 stant birth of psalms, songs, and thanksgivings in the soul, to 
 be the natural consequence of being filled with the Spirit. Carry 
 in yourselves, he says, the spring of all joyous inspirations. 
 Let the Spirit of God freely flow through you, a river of life, 
 fresh every moment from its source ; and, in the flow of this 
 current, your inner man shall sing himself along through his 
 pilgrimage, and, at length, into everlasting life. " The re- 
 deemed come with singing unto Zion, and the everlasting- joy 
 on their heads." ^ isa. xxxv. 10. 
 
1 92 We shall find our own place. 
 
 The end of 
 life. 
 
 The express purpose of our life In this world is to fit us to 
 leave the world. Few boys think that the end of their school- 
 life is to fit them to live in school. This world is our school of 
 experience and discipline. But how few men are concerned to 
 make any other use of their time on earth than to fit them to 
 live and enjoy themselves in the world ! In the real work of 
 a man, all such must find themselves further back at the end 
 of their days than they were at the beginning. They will not 
 only find that they have everything to do, but, first of all, 
 everything to undo. Apart from the most solemn and abundant 
 warnings of holy Scripture, reason itself would certainly lead 
 us to fear that it will be very hard in eternity to undo the 
 work done in time, and to free the spirit from the consequences 
 of having lived an earthly life. The seed being once formed, 
 how can you develope any other plant therefrom than corre- 
 sponds with the actual principles and qualities which are 
 ,„ , „ ^ , embodied in it ? 
 
 We shall find tti 11 1 1 ^' r ^ r ' i- 
 
 our own place. U uless we are duly and truly qualified for it on leaving 
 
 this world, we shall certainly not be able to live in a higher 
 world. We shall find our own place. No substance can rise 
 upwards and float in higher ethers until it is light enough to 
 do so. But substances can be made lighter, not only by de- 
 crease, but by increase. Bodies are often made to fall by 
 emptying them, and made to ascend by filling them. The 
 weight of a thing can be overcome by adding to it a new 
 element. The child blowing soap-bubbles is causing so much 
 of the heavy water to leave the vessel and float upward, by 
 adding to the water his own breath. And the power of ascen- 
 sion is given to us men by infilling our earthly souls with the 
 breath of the Divine Man. But we must take good heed, lest, 
 instead of being filled with His quickening breath, our souls 
 should drink in the earth-spirit. 
 
 We know what it is to forget, and even for a time to lose 
 the burden of existence, in a pleasant exhilaration. One of the 
 advantages of youth, over old age, is that the body is sufficiently 
 inspirited to save it from the sense of its own weight. Wine, 
 tea, music, conviviality, and so on, are tempting, because they 
 
God's geiierosity in the provision of excitement. 1 93 
 
 lift us In some measure above ourselves. We are sensibly- 
 lightened, we breathe more freely, the heart feeds on joy, and 
 gladdens the whole body. 
 
 Our desire to be spirited — " filled with spirit " — may be ^>!"* °f ^""^ 
 
 1 -1 1 . . . ^ 111 origin. 
 
 taken as an evidence that our true origm is not earthly, but 
 that we are fallen from a higher condition, and that we are not 
 quite at home under the encumbrance of an animal and mortal 
 body. To relieve us from tedium, and to meet our desire for 
 more spirit, the world is full of Satan's provisions. We scarcely 
 need enumerate. Some will think of the seductions of alcohol. 
 Others will think of gambling, hunting, racing. Others may 
 instance the daily excitement associated with the attire of the 
 mortal body. Then there is the literary morphia and soul- 
 delirium, in ceaseless demand at all circulating libraries. 
 Through legions of brains, male and female, the supply comes 
 and comes. Happy are the people whose exhilaration is a 
 soul-purifying process, kindling in them both heavenly thought 
 and feeling. But the children of this world greatly prefer 
 Mercury and Venus, Pan and Apollo, to Christ. 
 
 The human mind cannot be void. If it have not the light Not spirits, 
 of true wisdom, it will have the light of fallacies. Fleshly baits sp^t." ^ 
 are not the temptations by which superior men are caught. 
 Their understandings must be flattered. They must be 
 decoyed by facts, and the science of things patent to their 
 senses. You shall be leaders in the world of thought, " you 
 shall be as gods," you shall open men's eyes to the reality of 
 
 thinofs. Beware of the strone drink of sense-bound Intel- 
 
 1 . . . 
 
 lectuality. Neither be drunk with the soul-bewitching magnetic 
 
 ether of spiritualism. " The Spirit " will fortify both your 
 
 understanding and your heart against all spirits, whether of 
 
 the visible or the invisible world. " The Spirit " is our only 
 
 safe inspiration. There is moreover, not only a calmer 
 
 power, but a greater variety in the one Spirit of God, than in 
 
 all the spirits which lead captive the human soul. 
 
 God is not sparing in the ministration of wholesome excite- God's 
 
 ment. Every new morning is a genial, delightful excitement, fh" provision 
 
 The seasons are an ever-changfinof round of excitement. Love of excitement. 
 
194 
 
 Divine inebriation. 
 
 Divine 
 inebriation, 
 
 and marriage are joy from Heaven, in earthly cups. Family- 
 life is God's wine of fellowship all the year round. Every 
 meal is a pleasurable excitement. Birth-days and feasts are 
 special indulgences and celebrations of the excitement of home- 
 life. The verdant glory of the earth, the tranquil heavens, 
 and the works of our divine poets and musicians, are excite- 
 ments worthy of heaven. The Gospel of our eternal hopes is 
 the feast which crowns all ; and the congregation in church, 
 made up equally of friends and strangers, is a wonder of 
 fellowship and a most pure joy of love. What a depth of 
 sweetness, what serene gladness, what a variety of inspiration 
 there must be in that One Spirit, whence all our innocent and 
 noble excitements spring. The martyrs found an intensity of 
 spirit-quickening, on the boundary between life on earth, and life 
 in heaven ; not only proving that " death is abolished," but 
 that all the joys of our earthly life, are but poor shadows 
 going before our eternal human delights. 
 
 Drop your burdens, forget your labours and sorrows, and 
 soar above the dull plains of mortality, in a Divine exhilaration. 
 " Be filled," until you are lightened, and made buoyant, " with 
 the spirit." You know what Pentecost did for the fishermen 
 of Galilee. They became so superior to themselves, that 
 those who saw and heard them were amazed, and marvelled 
 at them. What has happened to them ? Their heaviness, 
 fear, and reserve are fled. They are clothed with power. 
 " These men are full of new wine," some objected. Peter 
 replied : " These men are not drunken as you suppose." God 
 has simply been true to His promise. He has filled them with 
 His Spirit. It is impossible that a new measure of Spirit 
 should flow into man, without elevating all his powers. He 
 is strictly " a new creature." " Tarry ye in the city of Jeru- 
 Lukexxiv. 49. salcni until ye be endued with power from on high." "You 
 shall receive power after that the Holy Sprit is come upon 
 you." The Spirit of the world stirs man from without, the 
 Spirit of Christ stirs him from within. The excitement that 
 reaches him from without, is of a nature inferior to the soul, 
 and debases her. " The Spirit " purifies and sublimes her. 
 
 Acts i. 8. 
 
Origin of Music and Song. 195 
 
 If you would carry a charm which shall enable you not ^ charmed 
 only to resist the power of sensuous and degrading excitements, 
 but all the bewitchments of the intellect, ask God, with the 
 greatness of a child's faith, to fill you with the Spirit of His 
 Son. The only sure defence against lower excitements, is in 
 a higher excitement. Our safeguard against the whole circle 
 of specious philosophy is in the intenser power and wider 
 circuit of the Divine Spirit. The only excitement com- 
 mensurate with man's spirit, and adapted both to refresh and 
 exalt all its powers is the inspiration of Christ. Every other 
 excitement is either tainted by some vicious excess, or less 
 than enough. " The Spirit of Christ " alone is the " Spirit of 
 rest" for man. " Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it." Ps. ixxxi >o. 
 
 As when the earth lies in dewy heat, waiting, with her The nature of 
 innumerable pores and channels all open, to receive her day- '^^^''^^* 
 spring, even so should the greater world of the human spirit 
 lie open to the Spirit-Sun. A fiery, restless desire should be 
 eschewed, as adverse to growth, and an inmost tenderness of 
 ardour be cultivated. There is a desire which fevers and con- 
 sumes the soul, and there is a desire which appropriates the 
 divine love and feeds the soul. Healthy spiritual desire is a 
 profound peace. But the peace of God is an appetite for God, 
 and the deeper the peace, the keener is the appetite. The Parable, 
 children of heavenly wisdom should study the conditions of 
 growing weather, as a parable suggesting to them the laws of 
 their own quickening and renewal. " The Lord said to me, I 
 will take my- rest, and I will consider in my dwelling-place, 
 like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat 
 of harvest." " He shall be as the light of the morning, when isa. xviii. 4. 
 the tender grass springeth by clear shining after the rain." 2Sam.xxiii.4. 
 " My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all 
 night upon my branch." jobxxix. 19. 
 
 God's Spirit in the renewed heart is a secret, intense joy. The origin of 
 origin of sonsf is divine. The sonofs of hell and of the wicked music and 
 
 ^ ^ "-^ . 1 • 1 M song. 
 
 are but disQrustinof caricatures. The devil encourao['es his chil- 
 dren to cloak their misery by an affectation of mirth. The 
 unchaste and the intemperate drink of the delirious spirit of 
 
196 Prayer. 
 
 the abyss, and sing their filthy songs one to another. The 
 children of God drink into them the Holy Spirit, and sing forth 
 their heavenly delights. Apart from what is sung, the sounds 
 themselves bear witness that their source is as distinct as 
 heaven and hell. From eternity to eternity, the Spirit of God 
 singeth the song of God. His song is an ever-changing variety 
 of the infinite harmony and joy of the Divine nature. The 
 poetic utterances of all inspired psalmists and poets, and the 
 compositions of inspired musicians, only record for us the vibra- 
 tive effects produced on them by the song of God, the song of 
 His being and purpose. The Word of the Lord is so musical, 
 that it makes the hearer musical, and necessitates a musical 
 utterance. The prophets are poets. " The morning stars 
 sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy," because 
 the Chief Singer, "the Word of God," had sung Himself into 
 the soul of their being. Consider the heavens ! are they not 
 the notes of the Divine Composer ? Were they not sung into 
 arrangement ? In what other light are we to understand the 
 rejoicing of the Eternal Word, before the Father, than as the 
 joy of the Divine Nature ever and ever sounding out from 
 Him. The glory which He had with the Father before the 
 world was, is the glory of an intelligent bliss. The joy of the 
 eternal, immutable harmonies of God's Being must be the very 
 soul of music. We ought not to be surprised, therefore, that 
 the Son of God is the Reconciler, " and able to subdue all things 
 unto Himself." He will outsinor the mad effort of divided and 
 contending powers, and sing back His Father's order. He is 
 Prayer. Himself His Father's order, and the very Original of music. 
 
 O Spirit of the Father and of the Son, fill us, that the soul 
 of song may be in us, and that we may be divine singers in 
 Thee. Fill us with the Spirit which was in the beginning, and 
 beforeThy works, that the disorder of things temporal may not 
 misteach us. O Word of God, Thou "joyful sound" in the high- 
 est, so fill us with the music of Thy whole plan, that "the opposi- 
 tions of science, falsely so called," may affect us no more than 
 the jabberings of idiotcy. We shall not stumble at that which 
 is in part, when that which is perfect has its dwelling-place in 
 
A pure joy in sorro7v. i^y 
 
 us. The battle-field wherein eternal love and the great enmity 
 are at strife, will only heighten the joy and harmony of the 
 song which Thy Spirit singeth in us. 
 
 Speak to yourselves, and to one another, ye children of Let joy over- 
 God, as also you do, in hymns and spiritual songs. Glowingly, ^°''' '" '°"S- 
 in the manner of the inspired psalms, talk and chant in your- 
 selves, of the sweet wonders of the Divine Nature, of your 
 eternal union with the Son of God's Love, and of that higher, 
 nobler cosmos to which you are come. Sing of your glorious 
 hopes, and let the enemy hear no desponding, or doubting 
 note.^ "Abound in thanksgivings," with the springs and 
 certainties of victory welling up in your heart. Let not Satan, 
 nor the whole circle of evil, rob God of your confidence in 
 Him. Sing of your future humanity, and of the endless reign 
 of your life in Christ Jesus. Anticipate your immortal youth, 
 and make a joyful noise in your hearts, and in your assemblies, 
 to the Unchangeable Father. Joy in God opens a thousand 
 gates at once. There are gates in the heart, gates in the 
 mind, gates in the nerves and muscles of the body, and gates 
 in the atmosphere, which may be either open to Heaven's tide 
 of sweet influence, or shut against it. Unbelief and gloom 
 shut the gates : hope and joy open them. But the gates are 
 very secret, and when Heaven is pouring itself in, whether 
 upon souls in their closets, or upon congregations, no one 
 suspects how, or by what channels, the tide has come. The 
 joy in God, of a single soul in private, may let loose a blessing 
 that shall run round the whole earth in its mission of comfort, 
 and carry in its glance the break of day to numberless sad 
 hearts. 
 
 In the world, the Divine life finds prose enough; but in a pure joy 
 himself, every child of God is a new divine poem and temple of 
 psalmody. The understanding is not able always to appre- 
 ciate the melody which is made unto the Lord, in the inmost 
 chambers of the soul. The understanding misjudges it, and 
 calls it groaning, because it has no ear to hear the purest music 
 of the heart. " Blessed are they that mourn." God joys with 
 singing, and rests in His Love, over His mourners. In the 
 
 in sorrow. 
 
198 
 
 The Spirit as himible as lofty. 
 
 Verse 20. 
 
 James v. il. 
 
 The Spirit is 
 as humble as 
 lofty. 
 
 Verse 2 1 . 
 
 bitterest cry of His Best Beloved : " My God, my God, why 
 hast Thou forsaken Me?" the Father hears the midnight 
 sin^ino- in the morning- to all broken hearts. 
 
 Wherefore we must set our sorrows to music, " giving thanks 
 always, for all things, unto God and the Father, in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." We must rise up in our midnights 
 to give thanks, because of our Father's righteous judgments. 
 While it is yet dark, we must go forth to meet our joy. Perfect 
 Love is the soul of every judgment. " The end of the Lord 
 is very pitiful and of tender mercy." 
 
 If in the present evil world, under deep darkness, and 
 manifold infirmities, the renewed heart is a little world of 
 melody to the Lord, what will be the joy of perfect men in a 
 perfect world ? What will song be in Heaven? 
 
 But let it not be forgotten that the Spirit entenders and 
 beautifies as much as it exalts the soul. The humility of God's 
 children answers to their exaltation, as depth to height. If 
 we are filled with the Spirit, we shall not only soar upwards 
 on wings of song to the feet of God, but shall meekly " submit 
 ourselves one to another in the fear of Christ." Every grace 
 lies enfolded in the one gift of God. If our spirit of joy be not 
 a lowly and companionable spirit, it is not the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 Chap. v. 22-33. — Wives submit yourselves unto yotir 
 oivn husbands, as iinto the Lord. 23 For the husband is 
 the head of the zvife, even as Christ is the Head of the 
 Church; cud He is the Saviour of the body. 24 There- 
 fore as the Chureh is subjeet imto Christy so let the wives 
 be to their ozvn husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, 
 love your zvives, even as Christ also loved the Chureh, and 
 gave Himself for her; 26 TJiat He might sanctify Jier, 
 having cleansed her by the zvashing of zuater by the word, 
 27 That He might present Jier to Himself, the glorious 
 Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such tiling; 
 but that she should be holy and ivithout blemish. 28 Thus 
 ought husbands to love their ozvn zvives, as their own 
 bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For 
 
The imenvied dignity. .199 
 
 no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishcth and 
 cherisheth it, even as the Lord the CJuircJi: 2)0 Because ive 
 are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bodies. 
 3 1 For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, 
 and shall be Joined unto his wife, and they two shall be 
 one flesh. 32 Tliis is a great mystery: but I am speak- 
 ing concerning Christ and the Church. 33 Nevertheless 
 let every one of you in particular so love his zvife even as 
 himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 
 
 It should be particularly observed, at the very outset of God Himself 
 Paul's teaching concerning the relationships of society, that he ^nd chSuhe 
 regards them all as sacred ; that is, they are in God the Father Spirit, of all 
 and in His Son Jesus Christ. God is the Spirit and life which societV"° 
 underlies the orders of human life. Society should be a mani- 
 festation of the inter-relationship and mutual dependency among 
 the powers and virtues of the Divine nature. Redeemed man- 
 kind are one body, from God and in God, and growing unto 
 a holy kingdom in the Lord, — that is, Christ's fulness in de- 
 velopment. It is scarcely possible to conceive a relationship 
 more fitted to express and display the meekness and obedience 
 of Christ than the relation of a Christian wife to her husband. 
 On the other hand the husband's relation to his wife is that of 
 Christ's to his redeemed. Children are to obey their parents "in 
 the Lord," for He not only honoured and obeyed His Divine 
 Father, but, up to His thirtieth year, wholly subjected Himself 
 to the authority of Joseph and Mary. Parents likewise are to 
 derive the spirit of their government from the Lord. Servants 
 are to think, whatever masters they have, that they are serving 
 Christ, and aim in all things to please Him. Masters arc: to 
 remember that they are under the same Master as their ser- 
 vants, and that, in His sight, they are neither greater nor better 
 for being masters. 
 
 The wisdom, dignity, and beauty of subjection are little Theunenvied 
 understood in our world. The honour which most men covet ^'g"''y- 
 is to have others under them. To create a fortune for yourself, 
 by the subjection of many to your authority, is the desired 
 honour. If by bending down the backs of a thousand, or ten 
 
200 
 
 TJie wife s freedom. 
 
 Matt. XX. 25- 
 
 28. 
 
 Luke xxii. 27. 
 
 The greatness 
 
 of Christ. 
 
 Jno. vi. 38. 
 Jno. viii, 29. 
 
 The wife's 
 freedom, 
 
 thousand, of your fellow-men, you can elevate yourself, you will 
 take your rank among the "great ones" of the earth. But 
 according to our " Faithful and True Witness," such distinc- 
 tions only pass for greatness in a corrupt and heathenish world. 
 Genuine greatness — greatness recognised by the judgment of 
 God — is of another order. Our King, Who throughout the 
 whole kingdom of God is the model of greatness, humbles no 
 one to exalt Himself, but humbles Himself rather to exalt the 
 poor and needy. There being a strife among the disciples, 
 "which of them should be greatest," Jesus taught them that 
 in this world a very base, unheavenly standard of honour 
 prevails. " Princes exercise dominion, and they that are great 
 exercise authority ; but it shall not be so among you. Even 
 as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister." " I am among you as He that serveth." 
 
 The greatness, therefore, which the Apostle commends to 
 Christian wives, is expressly the greatness of Christ. It is His 
 glory and joy to be subject to the Father. " I came down 
 from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him that 
 sent Me." " I do always those things which please Him." 
 There is nothing servile in the meek subjection of a wife to 
 her own husband. The very contrary : it is her crown of 
 beauty. She is counselled to clothe herself with the dignity of 
 Jesus. Moreover, the woman who has married wisely, and 
 who respects her own marriage, puts on authority and walks in 
 freedom, just in proportion as she is subject to her husband. 
 The body can in no other way walk in power and freedom, 
 than by being subject to its own head. The earth is beautiful 
 so long as she is directly subject to her own sun. She no 
 sooner enters upon the path of independence than she becomes 
 cold and gloomy. The more complete her subjection, the 
 greater is her freedom, and the more she sings and rejoices. 
 In like manner, wives will find that subjection to their own 
 husbands is the very law of their freedom and joy. Not only 
 the wife's reverence, but her love, for her husband, inclines her 
 in this direction. Wherein a wife hesitates to be subject to 
 her husband, she must lose the sense that she is his wife. By 
 
Husbands not exactors. 201 
 
 an independent course of action, she virtually separates herself, 
 asserts her self-sufficiency, and ceases to respect her wifehood. 
 
 If she only knew it, the path of subjection, appointed of —and golden 
 God for the Christian wife, is an inestimable opportunity and °PP°'^^'^'y- 
 privilege. Therein she will find the most favourable condition 
 possible, for the growth and development of her eternal beauty. 
 On no account let her look upon subjection to her husband, as 
 having" its end in time. It is a sacred thing-. The root of it 
 
 o .... 
 
 is in Christ, the flower thereof is in Eternity. The hidden 
 wisdom, and the love and beauty of God are being embodied 
 in her daily meekness. " The Lord lifteth up the meek." Ps. cxIvH. 6. 
 "He will beautify the meek with salvation." Home is the ps. cxHx. 4. 
 wife's empire, and she is exhorted to reign there, not after a 
 vulgar, or worldly manner, but after a heavenly manner. Her 
 free and loving subjection is a perennial means of grace. She 
 renders it indeed to her husband, but " as unto the Lord." 
 
 Many fair appearances are deceitful ; but the beautiful Fair without, 
 deportment of a Christian wife is even more beautiful within ^^"'^'' ^^''^^'"■ 
 than without. Jesus hides Himself under the veil of her 
 quiet habit. By her own obedience, she rules her household. 
 There is an air of majesty about her. Steadfast in piety, and 
 self-possessed, an atmosphere of unknown power encircles her. 
 Her husband may, or may not appreciate her sovereign humility. 
 The Lord notes it. In His sight it is an ornament of great 
 price. It is fragrant to the angels. Her thousand private 
 acts, lost to common observation, are written in heaven. Many 
 an excellent wife, buried in deepest obscurity, and withal, 
 sorely tried, is yet sweetly fulfilling her course. Her fair 
 monument, all unknown to herself, is being built in the pre- 
 sence of the Lord. Pure-hearted woman ! she will do her 
 husband nothing but "good all the days of her life." He may 
 " safely trust in her," as in the quicker soul of his soul, the 
 secret heart of his heart. 
 
 The submission of Christian wives can neither be cold nor Husband?, not 
 irksome, since husbands are required " to love their wives as exactors. 
 Christ loved the Chtcrchy The husband is never to be arbitrary, 
 never an exactor. His love to his wife must be the motive- 
 
202 
 
 The medium of cleansing. 
 
 Christ's 
 praise. 
 
 High stan- 
 dard : who can 
 attain to it ? 
 
 The medium 
 of cleansing. 
 
 power of her submission. She is to be under no other con- 
 straint than that of his love. Submission to love is freedom 
 and delight. " As Christ loved the Church," and by love won 
 her over to Himself, before she was His Church ; even so 
 the husband loved his wife before she was his wife, and by 
 love, won her to himself. In the same spirit of love by which 
 he first won her heart, he must rule her to the last. 
 
 The word Church must not impose upon us, as though 
 Christ loved the Church because she has put away her sins, 
 and robed herself in His beauty. The Church has already 
 inscribed it on enduring tablets, and in Heaven itself will never 
 suffer the writing to be effaced, that He loved her when she 
 was in her sins ; that not for her beauty, but because she was 
 destitute of beauty, and not for her righteousness, but because 
 she needed righteousness. He devoted Himself to her. 
 
 This is a very high standard to set before husbands. If 
 the love of Christ to the Church is the pattern of a husband's 
 love to his wife, his love must rather spring from what he can 
 do for her, than from what she is to him. Pie must bear with 
 her weaknesses nobly, and love her still. In supplying her 
 need, he must find his pleasure and reward. If he can be to 
 her wisdom and strength, he will have honour enough. Let 
 him be the generous sun of her life, and she will daily yield 
 him more than ever enters into his thoughts to require. 
 
 But Christ's love is beyond comparison. Husbands, fathers, 
 mothers, lay down their crowns at His feet. "Gave Himself 
 for her," signifies much more than, gave Himself to her. 
 Christ gave Himself over to shame, pain, death, for His bride. 
 He loved her in her defilement, and bound Himself to life-long 
 humiliations for her sake. By His blood-shedding. He has 
 provided a Divine bath, to cleanse her from her pollution. 
 Having cleansed her. He gives her His own loving, glowing 
 purity, for her beauty, that in the presence of all the angels 
 He may present her to Himself, a faultless, glorious bride. 
 
 " Water " is Paul's symbol in this place, for the medium of 
 cleansing ; but he immediately admonishes us that this bath is 
 nowhere to be found, save " in the word." Paul will scarcely 
 
Perfect in beauty. 
 
 203 
 
 be suspected of a ritualistic tendency. Indeed he has carefully 
 guarded us from ascribing a spiritual power to a natural 
 element. Evidently, he uses the term water in the sense in 
 which we frequently find it, both in the prophets and in the 
 teaching of our Lord. " With joy shall ye draw water out of 
 the wells of salvation." " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come isa. xU. 3. 
 ye to the waters." " Thou shalt make them drink of the river isa. iv. i. 
 of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain of life." Ps. xxxvi. 8, 9. 
 " The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of John iv. 14. 
 water." "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." John vh. 37. 
 If you use a physical element in faith, and for a divine purpose, 
 you may rest assured that God is there. All the elements of 
 nature are His garments, which may be used either lightly 
 and thoughtlessly, or in reverence and faith. The multitude 
 pressed about our Lord and obtained nothing, but the woman 
 who but touched, in reverence and faith, the hem of His gar- 
 ment, was baptized by the mystery and virtue which flowed 
 from Him. The grace of baptism is not in the visible 
 element, but in the Divine virtue and power which are hidden 
 therein. No administrator of baptism ever says, " I baptize 
 thee in water;" but, " I baptize thee into the Name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." " Into 
 the Name," is the same as saying, into the virtues and 
 powers of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The only bath 
 of cleansing for our souls is the adorable Trinity. No other 
 water can lave, purge, and quicken our understanding and 
 affections, than that bright Spirit-river, described by St John 
 as '•' a pure river of water of life, resplendent as crystal, pro- 
 ceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb." This Rev. xxii. i. 
 is the water in which Christ baptises His bride. " I indeed 
 baptize you with water," said John, "but He shall baptize you 
 with the Holy Spirit and fire.'' Every one who comes to Matt. Hi. n. 
 Him for salvation. He subjects to "the washing of regeneration 
 and the renewing of the Holy Spirit," till not a spot remains. Perfect in 
 Into our penitent and believing souls. He pours and pours His ^^'^^^' 
 own Spirit of Life, not only to the removal of the last taint of 
 corruption, but to our complete renewal in His own Incorrupti- 
 
204 Marriage^ a shadow of a higher mystery. 
 
 bility. He leaves in His bride no ground of impurity, or decay. 
 He makes her a partaker of His eternal youth, and clothes 
 her with the robe, "exceeding white and glistering " of His 
 own righteousness. Her likeness to Him being complete, the 
 attraction will be mutual. 
 Marriage a ]\Jq q^^ Speaking by the inspiration of God, can speak of 
 
 shadow of a . . r i i ^ \ -r i • • i i • • 
 
 higher the uuiou oi husband and wite, as havmg its root and begmnmg 
 
 mystery. }j^ time. It is a shadow of a union which is Divine and 
 
 Eternal. The subject is too high and sacred for our present 
 investigation. We must wait for the pure heart and the 
 exalted mind of our future state. We may be sure that 
 marriage on earth bears but a very imperfect and remote 
 resemblance to the original unity. According to our Lord's 
 teaching, sex, as it is found on earth, finds no place in heaven. 
 "In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in 
 
 Matt. xxii. 30. marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Paul 
 affirms the same of our new nature, that, "in Christ Jesus, 
 
 Gal. iii. 28. there is neither male nor female." The Son of God restores 
 to us primary and eternal conditions. The union of husband 
 and wife cover a mystery. " This is a great mystery." " It 
 points back to the original unity of man. Man and woman 
 are said to have been one before they were two. God made 
 one angel man, whose nature involved the basis of what came 
 to be the twofold development of man and woman. Each 
 therefore, and far more intimately and profoundly than we 
 can at present understand, belongs to the other. 
 
 In tracing the marriage-union to its fountain-head, in one 
 original man, we ought to go still further, until we come to its 
 absolute root and beginning, in One Son of God. Man was 
 created to be the image of His unity. In no true sense can a 
 divided and sensual creature be supposed to be the likeness 
 and image of God. 
 
 But woman being a development of man's deepest and 
 tenderest nature, in loving her, he is strictly loving himself; 
 in nourishing and cherishing her, he is nourishing and cherish- 
 ing himself; and in embracing her he makes an approach 
 towards the unity of his nature, as it was in the beginning. I 
 
Marriage, a shadow of a higher mystery. 205 
 
 say an approach, for the veil is heavy, and our understandings 
 
 are fettered by present conditions. When the man, awaking 
 
 a divided creature, out of the obhvion of that strange sleep, 
 
 saw his own Evah, an outward object standing before him, he 
 
 said : " This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : 
 
 she shall be called man-ah for she was taken out of man." Gen. ii. 23. 
 
 When instead of being a nature in himself, and immediately 
 
 under himself, she became an external attraction, what is 
 
 spoken of as " the fall " was very near. One division was 
 
 soon followed by another. From being divided in himself, he 
 
 came to be divided, (in a way that he had not conceived 
 
 possible), from God and from heaven. 
 
 But God's eternal purpose included the fall, and through 
 the fall. He helps us to a better and surer standing. Man's 
 fall infinitely attracted the Son of God, and brought him under 
 the fall. He will save both man and woman, and restore to 
 each more than the completeness which each has lost. For 
 what woman is to man, the human race is to the Son of God. 
 " I would have you to know that the Head of every man is 
 Christ." He cannot hate man, for man was taken out of Him. i Cor. xi. 3. 
 "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." He 
 shrinks not from the consequences of our weakness and in- 
 experience. " I will carry you ; I have made and I will bear ; 
 even I will carry and will deliver you." He is under the isa. xivi. 4. 
 necessity of His own nature, in making one lot with man. 
 " As one whom His mother comforteth, so will I comfort you." isa. ixvi. 13. 
 " For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His 
 bones. For this cause shall man leave His father and mother, 
 and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one 
 flesh." Let it be carefully observed, that these words, 
 primarily refer to the relation between the Son of God and 
 His mankind, and only secondarily, to the union of husband 
 and wife. He had no sooner written them, than he imme- 
 diately added : " This is a great mystery ; but I am speaking 
 concerning Christ and His Church." He leaves both His 
 Father and the Heaven of His glory, to be joined to the fallen 
 and broken "members of His body." For their sakes He 
 
2o6 The last Adam^ strictly the first. 
 
 will make Himself poor, that He may make them rich. He 
 will go down to the utmost depths to bring them back again 
 to Himself. He will make their falling away from Himself, 
 the opportunity of entering into an inseverable union with 
 them. He and they shall be no more twain. 
 
 Well hath Paul said : " This is a great mystery." For 
 the spirit and burden of all prophecy teach us, that Christ, as 
 the Head of mankind, in order to the manifestation of His 
 own fulness, was obliged to cleanse, renew and glorify the 
 human race. Reproving His disciples for the slowness of 
 their faith, He inquires : " Ought 7iot Christ to have suffered 
 these things ?" Shall I create and not redeem ? Shall 
 subtlety and malice be permitted to entice men from Him, and 
 shall He not bring them back again to Himself? Shall His 
 creating Love be confounded and suffer loss ? Rather, shall 
 He not lead defeat unto victory, and make the greater need 
 of His children, the occasion of bringing forth His unsearch- 
 able riches ? 
 
 The last God never presumed upon the adequate headship of 
 
 the^Sst^^"'^^^^ Adam; but the very contrary. In His thought and purpose 
 the insufficiency of man was anticipated. Adam never was 
 the true Head of the race ; but only a weak " figure of Him 
 
 Rom. V. 14. Who was to come." "The last Adam" is strictly, "The 
 first and the last." If Eve was presented to Adam as his 
 wife, because she was taken out of him ; much more shall 
 Christ present redeemed humanity to Himself, as the out- 
 growth and upbuilding of His blood. " At that day saith the 
 Lord thou shalt call Me, my Husband, and shalt call Me no 
 
 Hos. ii. 16, 19. niore, my Lord. I will betroth thee unto Me for ever." The 
 decreed purpose of God is an absolute intermarriage of the 
 Divine and the human. And it is equally impressive and 
 remarkable, that the book of Revelation closes with a pro- 
 phetic vision of the final condition of renewed mankind, as an 
 empire city, in the relation of wife to the son of Man : "Come 
 hither," said the angel, to St John, " I will shew thee the bride, 
 the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away, in the Spirit, to a 
 great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, 
 descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, 
 
Enforce obedience, 207 
 
 and her light most precious," &c., &c., &c. In what way this Rev. xxi. 9-11. 
 new^ empire, in, and under, the Son of God, will serve and 
 glorify God is not revealed. Prophecy lights up the^future so 
 far, but no further. But as history dates anew from the 
 Incarnation, we may be sure that the whole completed king- 
 dom of the Incarnation will inaugurate a new beginning for 
 the universe. 
 
 Chap. vi. 1-3. — Children, obey your parents, in the 
 Lord: for this is right. 2 Hotionr thy father and 
 mother ; which is the first commandment ivith promise ; 
 3 That it may be ivell zvith thee, and thou may est live 
 long on the earth. 
 
 All vice and crime may be traced to the nursery. The The root of 
 foundations of reverence are either earnestly laid, or perilously ^^^^^^"' °'' 
 sapped, in the very first years. In the first act of disobedience tlatnuS'rJ.'" 
 the child commits himself to a downward course. The 
 assertion of self-will in a disobedient act, is evidence enough 
 that the powers of darkness have prevailed to lay the founda- 
 tion of hell in the young soul. The parents who tolerate, or 
 mildly pass over the disobedience of their children, tolerate 
 what constitutes the beginning of all evil, and the root of 
 eternal evil. The children who are permitted to make light 
 of the authority of their father and mother, will in all pro- 
 bability grow up to make light of the authority of God. In 
 dishonouring their parents, they have already dishonoured 
 God. . They have disgraced themselves, impaired their own 
 moral sense, given their consent to evil spirits as their allies, 
 and entered on the way which leads them to destruction. 
 
 Children should be made to obey long before they can Enforce 
 understand zuhy they should obey. Their hearts should beat, "b^^'^"'^^- 
 their muscles grow, and their nerves vibrate and play, under 
 the necessity of obedience. From the beginning, their freedom 
 should be freedom in obedience. As soon as they can under- 
 stand it, they should be taught that reverence for their parents, 
 
2o8 The law of Creation dictates obedience. 
 
 manifested by unhesitating obedience, is God's command. 
 And children who obey their parents because God commands 
 it, are in the straight way wherein they shall not stumble. It 
 shall be " well with them," both for time and eternity. They 
 are in "the Way that they should go," — the Way that leadeth 
 unto life eternal, — "and when they are old they will not depart 
 from it." They have begun to do "right." The foundation 
 of God is in them, and it shall stand for ever, and they shall 
 be built up for ever. " Children, obey your parents, in the 
 Lord, for this is right" It is right, not because it is com- 
 manded; but it is commanded because it is right, and it is right 
 because it is essentially good, safe, and prosperous. 
 The law of jj^ ^^ |^^ ^j^^^ Ordinance of each child's creation, God 
 
 dictates obedi- has made a provision for the reverence of fathers and 
 ence. mothers. Parents are taken into the secrecy of His creative 
 
 council, that no child may receive his existence immediately 
 from Himself, but from Him, through them. Irreverent and 
 disobedient children, therefore, do violence to the very spring 
 and ground of their own nature ; they rupture the covenant 
 which God has made with obedient children ; they cut them- 
 selves off from all part in His promises; they dissolve their 
 connection with all blessed spirits and angels, and give pledges 
 to Satan. "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to 
 everlasting, upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness 
 unto children's children, to such as keep His covenant, aiid to 
 those that remember His co7nmandmcnts to do them.'' All the 
 generations of men are the children of children, and the God- 
 fearing and obedient among them, are links of one chain, of 
 which God is not simply the Beginning, but the secret life and 
 strength of all its links. By disobedience, both children and 
 men drop out of this Divine chain of directly related Father- 
 hood and childhood, and become not links, but striving, jarring 
 members of democracy and rebellion. 
 
 Let no one suppose that the honour due to parents is an 
 obligation which pertains only to childhood and youth. We 
 must never claim exemption from this law of obligation. 
 Reverence for our parents must be an essential element, not 
 
 Ps. ciii. 17, 18. 
 
God's prescription for the children s good. 209 
 
 only in our piety, but in our self-respect, as long as we live. 
 
 If God should permit us the opportunity of repaying them in 
 
 kind, we should reckon it both our honour and privilege 
 
 to feed, clothe, protect, and comfort them, as they did us. 
 
 Nothing offered to God can be acceptable, if it be at the expense 
 
 of the provision which is due to our parents. How solemnly 
 
 Christ has rebuked the disgusting affectation of piety, which 
 
 seeks to excuse its neglect of parents, under the pretence of 
 
 doing more for God. "Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you 
 
 hypocrites, as it is written. This people honoureth Me with 
 
 their lips, but their heart is far from Me." You say, We have Markvii. 6. 
 
 bound ourselves to give to God that by which we could help 
 
 our parents. "Thus you have made the commandment of 
 
 God of none effect through your tradition." Had you honoured Matt. xv. 6. 
 
 your parents, you would have honoured God also ; but now 
 
 you have dishonoured both God and your parents. To 
 
 neglect our clear obligations towards those who are near at 
 
 hand, in favour of our imaginary obligations towards those who 
 
 are distant, is great impiety. Nothing can make men more 
 
 hateful in the sight of God, than to prescribe a religious course 
 
 for themselves, while at the same time they pass over what 
 
 He has directly commanded. 
 
 God has bound Himself by a special promise to take care God's pre- 
 of reverent and obedient children, who obey Him by honouring the children'; 
 their own parents. From the right, the good can never be good. 
 dissevered. In a wrong course, you cannot be saved from 
 becoming the prey of evil. In every generation, numbers sow 
 the seed of future disaster and wretchedness by their disobedi- 
 ence to their parents. Many an untimely grave has the same 
 account to give of the young victim of disease and death. 
 Children, who are unruly at home, will be vicious and disorderly 
 abroad. Every self-willed child is preparing a scourge for 
 himself, and much mischief for others. Stubbornness under a 
 parent's roof will be followed by irregularities, late hours, evil 
 companions, and secret vice. Perverse children are making 
 haste to overtake their own dishonour and confusion. 
 
 " Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God n^ut. v. 16. 
 
 o 
 
2 1 o Gud's prescription for the children's good. 
 
 hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that 
 it may go well with thee." Sons and daughters, while you are 
 yet only at the threshold of your existence, hear it, that God 
 wishes it to go well with you, both in this world, and for ever ; 
 and has bound Himself to take care of you and to bless you, 
 on one condition, that you honour and obey your parents. You 
 cannot quote the numbers of obedient children, who are 
 removed from the world, by early death, as making exceptions 
 to God's promise. For with these, specially, it is well in the 
 land which the Lord God has given to them ; yea, and it 
 shall be well with them, and of their days there shall be no 
 end. The Spirit of their piety is no other than the Spirit of 
 Jesus. They are beloved children of their Heavenly Father. 
 Under His life-giving, joy-giving countenance, they live to- 
 gether in gladness with all the holy angels. Disobedient 
 children have already disowned Jesus Christ, and cast out 
 His Spirit from their souls. " My son, attend to my words ; 
 incline thine ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from 
 thine eyes ; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they 
 
 To?/; ^^' ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ those who find them, and health to all their flesh." 
 " My son, keep thy father's commandments, and forsake not 
 the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thy 
 heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it 
 
 Prov. vi. shall lead thee ; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee ; and 
 when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." 
 
 The loving authority of wise parents represents the authority 
 of God and heaven. In the highest and most sacred sense of 
 the words, God is our Father, and Heaven our mother. 
 When parents fear and love God, their home-government is 
 as the throne of God in their house. They rule, as God does, 
 not from the love of ruling, but for the good of their children. 
 On the other hand, the reverence and obedience of the 
 children are the first blossom of a heavenly piety. They are 
 the great Father's seedling angels forming in the shell of their 
 mortal bodies. 
 
 " Honour thy father and mother, which is the first com- 
 mandment with promise." " Our Father which art in heaven," 
 
 20-22. 
 
 20-22. 
 
Motherliness of heaven. 2 1 1 
 
 in a far stricter, pro founder sense, than we are either our own, 
 or our father's and mother's, we are Thine. We Hve in Thy 
 house, we sit at Thy table. In every day's enjoyments, we 
 see Thy hand and Thy heart. Our possessions are Thy 
 goods. All our hopes are in Thy keeping. 
 
 And heaven, like a dear mother, watches over us, waits Motherliness 
 upon us, and carries us in her bosom. She fulfils both an ° ^^^'^"' 
 invisible, and a visible ministry towards us, — invisible in the 
 angels, and visible in the Church. As the soul in the body, 
 so is heaven in the congregation of believing, loving hearts. 
 The Church should be honoured not only for Heaven's sake, 
 but for the Lord's sake. Streams of life, direct from our 
 Heavenly Father through the heart of Jesus Christ, flow 
 through every assembly of believers for the refreshment of 
 every child of God. 
 
 In earliest infancy, before you knew either father or mother, Qf^'^jJ'^^ 
 the Church received you into her open arms, she gave God 
 thanks for you, named you, and prayed that you may not be 
 lost in the sin and error of the world, but that after your 
 pilgrimage is over, you may come safely home to the bosom 
 of God and Heaven. She prays for you still, and will 
 continue her sacred and loving services on your behalf all the 
 days of your life. She provides for you your most peaceful 
 and heavenly home. With all her imperfections, she seeks 
 your highest good. " God is in the midst of her." Grieve 
 her not. The meek and loving light of her wisdom, is light 
 from Christ, and the light of your dearest life. She has never 
 wronged you. If you turn your back on her she grieves, but 
 forgives you ; and when you are wise enough to return to her, 
 she receives you as a mother, without upbraiding you. She 
 keeps her pure affections for you, but will not be meddlesome, 
 or force her ministries upon you. She confesses your sin, 
 and desires to be a channel of mercy and healing to your 
 soul. On this side the grave, no mother is like her for 
 dignity and grace, for counsel and tenderness. On the other 
 side of death, she appears in her glory, and as your mother in 
 God, welcomes you to her everlasting habitation. 
 
212 
 
 The Jesits-eletneitt. 
 
 There will be many distinct joys in heaven on the day of 
 your entrance. Your Saviour will have His joy. Your 
 guardian-angels will have their joy. Your fellow-members in 
 Church fellowship, who are there before you, will have their 
 joy. But, next to your Saviour, none in heaven will more 
 humbly rejoice before God to see you there, than those who 
 on earth were your parents after the flesh. 
 
 Chap. VI. 4. — And ye, fathers, provoke not yonr 
 cJiildrcn to zvrath : but bring theni tip i)i the discipline 
 and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 The wrathful 
 element. 
 
 The Jesus- 
 element. 
 
 There is in all things, and in all souls, an element which 
 should rather be allayed than stirred up. It is well that the 
 force is there, for the feeding and enlivening of all the powers. 
 Latent and under command, it is invaluable ; but when it 
 assumes authority, and mounts into self-manifestation, it is 
 harmful and destructive. Parents, therefore, must carefully 
 abstain from provoking the evil element, which is in their 
 children. Shew them by your own example, how the wrathful 
 power can be made subservient to their energy and cheerful- 
 ness, and at the same time kept under perfect control. When, 
 instead of possessing your soul in patience, you lose yourselves 
 in a ferment of excitement, you suffer a serious loss of dignity 
 in the eyes of your children. The force of your authority is 
 gone. How can children honour from the heart, that which is 
 destitute of honour ? How can they reverence you, if you lose 
 your majesty ? God calls you to the high and blessed office 
 of representing Him and heaven, to your children. 
 
 There is in your children not only the wrathful element 
 from you, but also a spirit of great sweetness from their 
 Heavenly Father. The Jesus-Spirit is God's seed, and it is 
 sown in all the race. No child of Adam is wholly the seed 
 of the serpent : " the seed of the woman" is in every man that 
 Cometh into the world. " The manifestation of the Spirit is 
 
Much to be done before reason shows itself. 2 1 3 
 
 given to every man to profit withal." The Jesus-Spirit is i Cor. xii. 7. 
 
 the essential Spirit of humanity, without which, salvation were 
 
 an impossibility. Parents and teachers, address yourselves to 
 
 this divine ground in your children. There is a spirit in them 
 
 which will help with you, in all your measures for their good, 
 
 if you are only wise enough to secure its co-operation. So 
 
 live with your children, and so appeal to them, and so correct 
 
 them, as to call forth the Spirit of Jesus which is in them. In 
 
 all your counsels and reproofs, presume that the right Spirit, 
 
 the Spirit of "the Holy Child" is in their breast. Help your 
 
 children to recognise in themselves this Helpful Spirit. 
 
 When they manifest the contrary spirit, teach them the art of 
 
 checking and conquering their evil spirit by the Spirit of 
 
 Jesus, which is quite as much in them as the evil spirit. |) 
 
 Teach them that by allowing the evil spirit to have the upper 
 
 hand, they silence, and positively wound, their own good 
 
 spirit, which they have from Jesus. Whether active or not, 
 
 this Spirit is in every child waiting to be quickened and called 
 
 forth. Be encouraged, the Enlightener, the Convincer, the 
 
 Saviour of your children is in them. He is very " nigh unto 
 
 them, in their mouth and in their heart, that they may be 
 
 saved." 
 
 Consider well the law of heavenly growth. Flowers, Law of 
 grapes, corn, fruit, and souls unfold, grow, and perfect their groS!^ 
 forms under analogous influences. Storms destroy, but never 
 produce, either bud or bloom. Stir not up wTath in your 
 children. A mischief may be done in five minutes which 
 many years will not repair. Under a haughty or harsh 
 government, the flowers of life will not unfold. By false 
 methods of parental authority, parents often quench genius, 
 and suppress all candour and openness in their children. 
 " Consider the lilies, how they grow ;" and provide mild and 
 genial weather for your household plants. 
 
 Cherish the belief that your children may be divinely Much to be 
 nourished long before their understandings are developed, ^^^^f^i'o^,^ 
 There is an invaluable formative influence which operates itself. 
 independently of the understanding. Witness corn, fruit, 
 
214 Much to be done before reason shows itself. 
 
 flowers : witness also your own babes. They are mar- 
 vellously, but delicately, impressible, and very subject to the 
 atmosphere of the house. Not only their nerves, but also 
 their souls are bent and inclined by the spirit and temper of 
 their parents and nurses. Before they can understand a word 
 that you say, you have sown the invisible seed of your daily 
 life into the tender ground of their spirits. Let your babes 
 live, and breathe, and smile, and grow, in the sunny atmo- 
 sphere of your own heavenliness. By your own peaceful, 
 loving, beautiful life, let their will form under a Jesus-ward 
 bias, before they know His Name. Nourish their affections 
 with His sweetness, and thus secure their reason before it 
 comes. It is easier to bring them up in the love and safe- 
 keeping of Jesus Christ, than to win them back to Him, after 
 they have fallen a prey to the appetites and reasonings of the 
 flesh. If the life of Christ be really in you, no one in your 
 house will be able to escape its Divine radiations. The pro- 
 mise of God is to you and to your children. Unless they 
 wilfully put themselves out of His covenant, God regards 
 your children as making one organic whole with yourselves. 
 In giving vital heat to the parent-bird. He gives it at the 
 same time to her brood. Ultimately, He gives the young 
 ones life independently of their parents ; but at first He gives 
 it through them. No one surely will affirm that the life of 
 Jesus is less diffusive than animal heat. The grace of God 
 in the parents is nothing less than God Himself living and 
 operating in their house. His promise is not in word only : 
 it is spirit and life, it is an active permeating power. Paul 
 traces Timothy's piety to a parental root : "I call to remem- 
 brance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, luhich dwelt first in 
 thy grandmother, then in thy mother ; and I am persuaded in 
 thee also." 
 2 Tim. i. 5. Christian parents, your children are even more the Lord's 
 
 than they are yours. Regard them as His, and your love 
 to them will be more sacred, and your counsel more influ- 
 ential. Believe, that the righteousness, peace, and glad- 
 ness, which you have from the Lord, will be nurture and dis- 
 
All men have one Father, &c. 215 
 
 cipllne for them; that His virtues, reflected in your character 
 and temper, are charmed powers, continually acting on them. 
 Your house is an earthly heaven, strictly joined, and in com- 
 munication, with God's holy heaven. Chill not the Spirit of 
 Love in your house by doubt. Cease not to pray for your 
 children, but honour your Heavenly Father with your con- 
 fidence. Believe that every one who has been brought up 
 within the circle of your affections in Christ, will be a member 
 with you of God's eternal House. 
 
 ' Chap. vi. 5-8. — Servants, be obedient to them who 
 are your masters according to the JiesJi, with fear and 
 trembling, in singleness of your heart, as tinto Christ ; 
 
 6 Not zvitJi eye service as men-pleasers ; but as the ser- 
 vants of Christ, doing the zvill of God from the heart; 
 
 7 With good zvill doing service, as to the Lord, and not 
 to men: 8 Knowing that wJiatsoever good tiling any man 
 doetJi, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he 
 be bond or free. 
 
 It is a relief to one's human sympathies to know that, ah men have 
 great as are the distinctions between men and men, they all &". ^ ' 
 have equally one God and Father, one Saviour and Judge. 
 Some are in authority, and some are under subjection; but 
 because one Just Judge rules over all, the way to the highest 
 distinctions is quite as open to subordinates as to their 
 superiors. The distinctions of the present world are for the 
 most part very unreal, and always of brief duration. Paul 
 prays Philemon to receive back his old servant Onesimus, 
 " not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." 
 He goes even further, " If thou count me a partner, receive him 
 as myself." The only real and abiding ground of distinction phu. xvi. 17. 
 which any master, or prince, can have, is to be made a partaker 
 of the essential excellence of Christ, the true Son of God. But 
 his lowest menial may quite as readily obtain this new nature. 
 And if the servant embodies in his life more of Jesus Christ 
 
2i6 A remedy against servility and hypocrisy. 
 
 than his master, then in the world to come, and before God, 
 he will rank higher, and inherit superior distinctions. 
 I?etemifTs"' Because the grades of society in this life are only temporary, 
 not to be servants are not permitted, therefore, to set them at naught. 
 Uii^iife^^" True, your masters are in no spiritual or real sense, your 
 masters; but only, as the apostle says, "according to the flesh." 
 Nevertheless, present distinctions are agreeable to the will and 
 ordinance of God, for this life. 
 Force of The "fear and trembling," commended to servants, evidently 
 
 trembHrn-." ^neau reverential earnestness of purpose, as knowing how 
 much is involved in present faithfulness. The same words 
 are used to express the hearty reception which the Corinthians 
 gave to Titus. " We joyed for the joy of Titus, because his 
 spirit was refreshed by you all ; ... . and his inward affec- 
 tion is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembers the 
 obedience of you all, how withy^-^r and ti^embliiig you received 
 2 Cor. vii. 13- him." It is clear, therefore, that we must not understand by 
 ^' fear and trembling either servility or nervous excitement; but 
 
 rather the absence of all agitation, in a religious intensity of spirit. 
 We are exhorted to co-operate with God in working out our 
 own salvation, in the same spirit. " Work out your own sal- 
 Phil, ii. 12. vation with fear and trembling." An earnest godly fear and 
 great peace of mind are not only compatible, but mutually 
 helpful to each other, 
 A remedy By such a Spirit, servants, would be effectually delivered 
 
 vnuylmr' frorn the slavery and hypocrisy of "eye-service." Mere men- 
 hypocrisy, pleasers are not only in constant bondage, but they have 
 neither self-respect nor the approbation of God. Whereas 
 those who in singleness of heart fulfil their obligations, "as to 
 the Lofd, and not to men," do their work in great freedom of 
 spirit, enjoy self-respect, and lay up for themselves honours in 
 Heaven. 
 
 Our future standing in eternity depends very much on our 
 faithfulness to the relations of time. It can be no lasting dis- 
 advantage to servants to have hard and haughty masters; but 
 real loss and damage will accrue to such servants if they serve 
 them not faithfully, and in the spirit of the Lord Jesus. Con- 
 
The Spirit of present service. 
 
 217 
 
 scientlousness, in the little every-day things of earthly service, The spirit of 
 is sowing the seed of a great reward. In eternity, where true TmiTof future 
 judgment takes effect, we shall discover that our Lord's words judgment. 
 have a most weighty meaning. " Thou hast been faithful over 
 a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." ^^^"- ^'^^- ^'" 
 " Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou 
 authority over ten cities." " He that is faithful in that which Luke xix. 17. 
 is least is faithful also in much ; and he that is unjust in the 
 least is unjust also in much. If, therefore, you have not been 
 faithful in the unrighteous riches, who will commit to your 
 trust the true ? And if you have not been faithful in that 
 which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your 
 own ?" If these words teach anything, they declare that sub- Lukexvi. lo- 
 ordinates, by unfaithfulness to the possessions and interests of 
 others, are adopting a course which will deprive them of that 
 which might be their own ; and that unfaithfulness in the 
 monetary transactions of time will tell upon one's possession 
 of "true riches" in eternity. Moreover, we are instructed that 
 the "few things" in which we are occupied now, have a dis- 
 tinct bearing on our loss, or obtainment of " many things '' 
 hereafter. What many persons have to do from day to day 
 may appear to be " very little," but faithfulness therein is the 
 direct path to rank and authority in the world to come. 
 
 Paul, therefore, counsels all servants and employes to 
 remember, that their earthly service is a discipline preparatory 
 to eternal recompense. Whether your masters and employers 
 are what they should be to you or not, endeavour to serve 
 them as though you were serving Christ. " Whatsoever you 
 do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." "With coi. iii. 23. 
 good will doing service," " not only to the good and gentle, 
 but also to the froward." The Lord will repay you. " What- i Pet. ii. 18. 
 soever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive 
 of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." Every exercise of 
 good-will, every hour's faithful service, every instance of silent 
 subjection, shall come back to you. Your labour and diligence, 
 in the employ of your fellow creatures, when rendered " not 
 with eye-service, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will 
 
2l8 
 
 A dehision. 
 
 of God from the heart," are literally so much heavenly capital 
 in your Lord's hands. 
 
 Chap, vi. 9. — And ye masters, do the same tilings 
 unto them, forbearing threatening : knowing that both 
 your and their master is in heaven; neither is there 
 respect of persons with Him. 
 
 Masters have 
 no advantage 
 before God. 
 
 A delusion. 
 
 Acts XX, 35. 
 
 If there is no respect of persons with God, masters, beyond 
 this world, can have no advantage over their servants. If the 
 master, be more Christ-like and faithful than his servant, (which 
 is often the case), he shall have a superior reward ; but if the 
 servant be more Christ-like and faithful than his master, which 
 also is often the case, then in the world where true judgment 
 takes effect, he shall rank above his master. Masters are no 
 nearer to the final human distinctions because they are 
 masters; nor are servants farther off from them, because they are 
 servants. But the faithfulness of both is so much treasure 
 laid up for them in heaven, " The same shall they receive 
 of the Lord, whether they be bond or free." " The day 
 of God " is an admirably impartial day. Right judgment 
 prevails at last. 
 
 If we suppose that the piety of masters and mistresses is 
 of one kind, and that of servants another kind, we have fallen 
 into a delusion. Having exhorted servants to do their duty 
 from the heart, as to the Lord, Paul immediately writes : 
 " And ye masters do the same to them," If they are under 
 obligation to serve you, you are no less under obligation to 
 serve them. Let their benefit, in your service, be a stronger 
 desire with you, than your own benefit from their service. 
 They and you have one Judge. Forego your own advantage 
 if you can promote their interests thereby. ** Remember the 
 words of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed 
 to give than to receive." 
 
 Be masters " with fear and trembling," regarding your 
 servants with a religious concern, in singleness of heart, doing 
 
As you sow, you will reap. 
 
 219 
 
 the will of God towards them. The Lord, Who is the 
 Pattern-Master came into the world, not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister. " I am among you as one that serveth." 
 Honour your servants for the Lord's sake. Whatsoever good 
 thing you do them, the same shall you receive of the Lord. 
 
 Beware of harshness, "forbear threatening:" why should As you sow, 
 you treasure up wrath against yourself? What you are to ^^^^^ "^^^p* 
 others, will qualify what God is to you. The life which you 
 live in the body is the seed of your life after death. " God 
 giveth to every seed its own body." Thistle seed has its iCor. xv. 58. 
 resurrection, but always in a thistle's body. " With the 
 merciful man, Thou wilt shew Thyself merciful : with the 
 upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright : and with the 
 fro ward. Thou wilt shew Thyself froward." No man can 
 escape from the spirit of his own life. Nor can any man 
 receive God into any other spirit than his own spirit. There- 
 fore as is the man, such is God to the man. A rigorous man 
 will meet with rigour. Our Lord says, an unforgiving man 
 will be delivered to the tormentors, until he has paid the 
 uttermost farthing of his obligations to God. " With what 
 measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again." If Matt. vii. 2. 
 you desire God not to enter into judgment with you, you are 
 thereby bound not to enter into judgment with a fellow 
 creature. To expect the mercy from God which you do not 
 shew to others is to be a " wicked servant." If you desire 
 God to be merciful to you, you should not be satisfied on your 
 part, in being merely an upright man. Sow loving-kind- 
 nesses and mercies bountifully, and you shall reap the same 
 bountifully. 
 
 Psalm xviii. 
 25, 26. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 10-13. — Finally, my brethren, be strength- 
 ened m the Lord, and in the power of His might. 
 1 1 Put oit the whole armonr of God, that yon may be able 
 to stand against the stratagems of the devil. 1 2 Because 
 otir struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against 
 Principalities y against Powers, against the World- 
 
Change of air. 
 
 2 20 Change of air. 
 
 Riders of tJiis darkness, against the spiritual poivcrs of 
 evil in t/ie Jicavenlies. 13 Wherefore take nnto yon 
 the whole armour of God, that you may be able to 
 witJistand in the evil day, and having accomplisJicd all, 
 to stand. 
 
 The only permanent relation is our Divine family-relation 
 in the Son of God. Wives, husbands, children, parents, ser- 
 vants, and masters are therefore "finally" included under one 
 term. They are all "brethren." We are one body in Christ 
 Jesus, with a perfectly mutual interest in each other. We are, 
 and shall be, very various, because His riches are unsearch- 
 able. We are one, because He is One. He is our breath of 
 life, and the Potentiality of all our powers. What the atmo- 
 sphere, and the power of its might, are to our mortal bodies, 
 the Lord's Presence, and the power of His might, are to us. 
 
 We go forth from the limits of our private houses, into the 
 freedom and freshness of unimprisoned air : we leave the 
 effete atmosphere of our cities in favour of the sea-shore and 
 the mountain range ; and why should we not, for the health 
 of our higher nature, go up from the tame level of our ordinary 
 thoughts and passions, to inhale spirit and life from the 
 expanse which our Lord fills with the strengthening calm of 
 His own intense life ? That air is our true, eternal breath of 
 Life. It is Life itself. Power itself By all means, acquire the 
 art and the habit of inbreathing it, that you may be tranquil 
 and strong in the Power of its might. As many as in-breathe 
 it, inbreathe the might of Christ's ascension, — the power 
 which makes them sons of God. In no other way can any of 
 us be made " partakers of the Divine Nature." The power 
 of God is organised in Christ, that from Him, as from a Man, 
 it may be an adapted strength for all men. "He breathed 
 John XX. 22. upon them, and saith, Receive ye the Holy Spirit." This is 
 a new form of power, dating from Christ's completed glorifi- 
 cation and oneness with God. Believers, you have the form 
 of Christian godliness, seek the power. Draw it into your 
 inner man, till you are charged and clothed therewith. Seek 
 to know in yourselves the force of the words, " Put ye on the 
 
A repulsive subject. 221 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ." The age in which God said He would 
 pour out His Spirit is fully come. The Spirit of the Almighty 
 Man is poured out, were there only vessels to receive it. 
 There are vessels, but they are occupied, " Bring empty 
 vessels," saith the Spirit ; but men have not the heart to pour 
 out the old, that they may be filled with the new spirit of 
 human life in Christ Jesus. What can the Lord do, but wait? 
 What can His mercy do but awaken judgment against the 
 earth-hlled vessels that they may be prepared to be Heaven- 
 filled ? There are some witnesses amongr us, who, havinof 
 been emptied, are tranquillised, strengthened, assured, they 
 know not how. Under sorrow and a great pressure of afflic- The might, 
 tion, they longed for Jesus, longed to be bathed in His Spirit; 
 but they knew not that all that while, they were inbreathing 
 Christ. The trees breathe noiselessly, and know not what 
 they do ; but they put on wondrous power, and store within 
 them great treasures of light. So " the trees of the Lord." 
 
 The inner man beine brought into accordant relations 
 with the whole heavenly world, and with the outgoings of the 
 Divine Man, becomes established in " the perfect law of 
 liberty," called also "the full assurance of faith," and "the Joy andthefree- 
 of the Lord." Great rest, passing understanding, fills the dom.of Christ. 
 heart. ^ ^^ ^^^.^^ 
 
 Nothing short of being strengthened and encompassed by subject. 
 a superhuman power could give us peace, seeing that we have 
 a superhuman enemy. But we now approach a subject that 
 labours under serious difihculty. Few men will patiently hear 
 that there are hosts of spirits, and spirits of a very high order, 
 who are ceaselessly plotting and working against both God 
 and men. Nothing is more clearly revealed than the fact 
 that there are vast armies of intelligent powers, with which 
 God and heaven are at war. And yet the whole subject is 
 commonly regarded as dubious, or met with positive unbelief. 
 It gives great offence to the understanding. And though the 
 condition of nature and the whole history of the human race 
 support the testimony of the Bible, men withhold their faith, 
 and prefer to think that the rebellion of angels is a thing of 
 
222 Our holiday not yet. 
 
 the imagination. To have to treat, therefore, not of a fallen, 
 invisible world, nor of fallen men, but of a fallen heaven of 
 Princes and Rulers, with all their multitudes, is a trial to a 
 teacher. Directly associated with this unbelief is another very 
 general repugnance, namely, that the lifetime of men in the 
 The "evil present world is their " evil day." They are unwilling to 
 •^^y-" think that an orderly course of things which is so adapted 
 
 and alluring to their senses and their hearts, can be at vari- 
 ance with their true interests. That invisible powers are 
 seeking to unfit them for a life in heaven, and thus to ruin 
 them, by the attraction and influence of the things which are 
 seen, they will not believe. And of course they do not sus- 
 pect that their unbelief is a proof of the exceeding subtlety and 
 complete success of the enemy. 
 
 But it is just because the sphere of our world swarms with 
 crafty ' intellects, who know how to ingratiate themselves 
 equally with our reason and our inclinations, that Paul affirms 
 the period of our mortal life to be our " evil day." The 
 reasoning of these powers is conclusive to the natural mind. 
 It is the plausible, treacherous soul-light of which our Lord 
 warns us. "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how 
 great is that darkness." In that light, which is a wonder of 
 great darkness, evil spirits are welcomed to the house of the 
 soul as bosom friends. " That darkness f" The glow of 
 our emotions is often not heaven's fire ; but implacably hostile 
 to heaven's fire. The energy of our passions is less frequently 
 from Jesus, than from the enemy of Jesus. At the very time 
 that we are most completely led captive by the evil one, we 
 suspect no other will than our own. Birds cautiously fly 
 about the fowler's corn, and fish are wary of the tempting 
 bait ; but human souls positively rush into the snares of their 
 fowler. 
 Our holiday Human life under the sun is no holiday. Although the 
 
 "°' y^'* wily ones, who are seeking to make us their prey, do their 
 
 best to bury every worthy view of life in an elysium of for- 
 getfulness. Hence, everywhere, the swift succession of excite- 
 ments and pastimes. Hence the multitude of panderers to 
 
The depth. 223 
 
 low appetites. Hence the race-course, the pantomime, the 
 opera, and the endless supply of literary fiction. Even the 
 Church and the pulpit often labour under an intense strain 
 to provide a change of sensationalism for the people, — some- 
 thing to call them away from themselves, rather than to lead 
 them into themselves. Countless spirits fill the air of our 
 world, and persuade men that they are on no ground of 
 danger or warfare, but in a paradise of delights for the grati- 
 fication of the senses and appetites. Rather than in God's 
 Bible, most men prefer to believe in the reasonings and 
 enticements of these spirits of the air. Willingly they abandon 
 themselves to immediate pleasure, lose the battle, and die, 
 to find out in what relation those stand to God's heaven, to 
 whom time on earth was a holiday. 
 
 Let as many as desire to come to the true human rest and 
 feast of eternity, beware of Satan's cheap, immediate sub- 
 stitute. He and his multitudes, having lost their divine 
 freedom, are seeking, by the shows and pleasures of time, 
 to divert mankind, that they may not, by spiritual conquest, 
 win what they themselves have lost. 
 
 Men are no match, young and inexperienced as they are, 
 for the Principalities and World-Rulers, who reason so spe- 
 ciously in their fleshly mind, and so pleasantly allure the 
 fleshly soul. In themselves, these tempting spirits have no 
 rest, but they find some assuagement of their sharp fire in the 
 souls of men. They are not only our enemies from malice, 
 but from self-love. No prayers of men for deliverance from 
 evil spirits, are more sincere than the prayers of the said 
 spirits, that they may not be dissociated from men. " Let us 
 alone." They are not afraid that man, if left to himself, 
 would ever be able to dissolve his connection with them. 
 They know that it is neither in his power, nor in his will to send 
 them away from him. He loves his own fallen nature too much. 
 
 The great art of these invisible world-rulers consists in The depth 
 never seeming to be against us. They conceal themselves in 
 our affections, and plead for our wishes. And, as though 
 from quite a motherly consideration for our weakness, and a 
 
224 The host of the enemy. 
 
 warm concern for our enjoyment, they make it appear that 
 the claims of God are unreasonable, and that the way to 
 heaven is cold and forbidding". Seated in the warmth of our 
 hearts, they reason warmly for our pleasure, and then flatter 
 us that we reason well. We are taken by the " wiles," we 
 suck in the flattering honey, and know not that we are being 
 poisoned unto the second death. These spirits are too much 
 for us. Their strongholds are in our hearts. Before we can 
 successfully oppose those who clothed themselves with the 
 armour of our own life, we must put on " the armour of God." 
 Jesus is the only man who ever prevailed in this war. He 
 came to the encounter, not in nature's heats, nor with nature's 
 reasonings ; but clothed with truth and purity, guilelessness 
 and perfect love. We must " put on Christ." Through the 
 innocence of Jesus in them, the little ones of heaven, are 
 clothed with invincible armour and always behold the face of 
 the Father. They put forth no power. They do but rest in 
 the meek joyousness of their existence. Yet the whole power 
 of the enemy is still and helpless before them. Their very 
 nature is armour-proof. Christ's radiant shield, from His life 
 within them, plays round about them. 
 
 This " armour of God " will not oppress us. Rather, by a 
 
 fulness of inward strength, it will relieve us of our own weight. 
 
 " Put it on, that the enemy may find not you, but God in you. 
 
 The host of Imagine no vulgar emperor with vulgar forces, but a Spirit- 
 
 e enemy. Emperor of spiHt-emperors, — the Chief of Principalities and 
 
 Powers, each of which reisfns like a sovereifjn over his kino^- 
 
 ^ o o 
 
 dom of fallen angels. They are World-Rulers, deceiving the 
 whole world, and ceaselessly striving for ascendency over the 
 hearts and reason of men. There are no human souls which 
 are not more or less subject to their influence. Their " rule, 
 authority, and power" run throughout nature, and into the 
 highest and most spiritual realms of human thought. They can 
 be more spiritual than the severest ascetic, and more refined 
 than the purest mystic. No saint ever enters into his closet, 
 or stands before the altar of God, but Satan is already there to 
 resist him. The Son of God cannot come in the flesh without 
 being assailed by him. 
 
One greater than all flesh, &c. 225 
 
 Most persons have a real idea of the armies of Europe ; 
 but a very weak and uninfluential conception of the legions of 
 God's adversary. Yet I suppose a thousand Europes would 
 make no approach to the numbers comprehended under the 
 principalities and powers which abound in the aerial deep, and 
 allure, or darken and oppress, all souls. A legion is often asso- 
 ciated with a single man. Indeed, it would be perfectly 
 absurd to suppose that Europe multiplied a thousand, or ten 
 thousand times, could play the part in the universe of an 
 adversary of God. The power and dominion of evil and 
 death are hidden from us, as equally beyond our belief and 
 comprehension. 
 
 To meet this enemy in actual combat, was one of the grand One greater 
 ends of the Incarnation. The beloved disciple attaches InTthe^piriu 
 supreme importance to the confession, that " the Son of God thereof, is 
 is come in the flesh." If He be not come in the flesh, then Sesh!'"^ ^ 
 the hosts of invisible " world-rulers," whose seat and empire 
 are the carnal mind and the carnal heart, are unconquered to 
 this day, and our salvation is a dream. If He has not actually 
 encountered them in our nature, and spoiled all their "princi- 
 palities and powers, triumphing over them in it," then " the 
 tried stone, the precious corner-stone, the sure foundation" of 
 our hope, is not yet laid. The whole superstructure of our 
 faith falls, if " the True God and the Eternal Life " has not 
 worn our very flesh, and met and overcome the spirits and 
 powers who are in league with it. Therefore John asserts 
 that no spirit is of God who does not confess that His Only 
 Begotten Son has tabernacled in our flesh. "This is a ijohniv. 2, 
 deceiver and an antichrist," he repeats. There remains, in the ^J^^" ^• 
 whole universe of spirits, no haughty, self-willed power which 
 the Son of God, as man, has not made subject to Himself 
 " In that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing Heb. ii. 8. 
 that is not put under Him." In a spirit with which they had 
 nothing in common, and by an art beyond their art. He van- 
 quished "gods many and lords many," and won a throne in 
 their own heavenlies, above them all, and over them all, in 
 which throne He will reign " till He shall have put down," in 
 
226 Put on the siipreme power. 
 
 man, in creature, and in nature, their entire " rule and autho- 
 rity and power." " Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father." The Universal Power, therefore, which is pre- 
 sent, and moveth in all being, will see to it, that every spirit 
 shall bow to Jesus, and every tongue confess His Supreme 
 Lordship, On no other basis, nor through any other medium 
 than that of Jesus, is the Father's glory possible. 
 
 Put on the The Spirit and Power of the victorious, ascended Manhood 
 
 Powe'Jl^ of Christ are the " armour of God" for us men. It is a Power 
 
 above all power, Divine Power, and yet strictly human. 
 Whoso putteth on Christ, putteth on armour which is God's 
 clothing, and inseparable from God. In it, no weakest one can 
 fail : without it, no mightiest one can stand. 
 
 What hosts of kings, emperors, and ruling world-intellects, 
 find themselves, after death, in no other heavenlies than those 
 of the fallen angels ; and helpless miserable dwarflings they 
 are, in the presence ' of the old apostate " thrones and 
 dominions." Read Isa. xiv., Ezek. xxxi., xxxii. In the book 
 of Revelation it is said : " The spirits of devils go forth unto 
 the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them 
 
 Rev, xvi. 14. to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." " These 
 shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome 
 them : for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings : and they 
 
 Rev. xvii. 14. that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Two 
 camps will ultimately divide the world : namely, those who 
 are in Christ, and those who are in the spirit of the world. 
 " Ye are from beneath ; I am from above : ye are of this 
 
 johnviii23. world; I am not of this world." These two camps will ulti- 
 mately come into direct collision ; and the whole world will 
 see in which camp God moveth. " The Lord shall utter His 
 voice before His army : for His camp is very great ; for 
 strong is He that executeth His word : for great is the Day 
 
 Joel 11. II. Qf |-}^g Lord, and very terrible; and who can abide it?" 
 "Satan" and "the nations" "went up on the breadth of the 
 earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the 
 beloved city ; and fire came down from God out of heaven, 
 
 Rev. XX. 9. and devoured them." The men and women who are in Christ 
 
The bewitching power of " the evil day!' 227 
 
 will inevitably grow into such unity with Him, as "the King 
 of glory," that they will be direct channels for the fire of God. 
 Understand no arbitrary fire, nor any other fire than the irre- 
 sistible element of God and Heaven's life, in man. 
 
 Let all those who are " with Christ," consider well their 
 distinction, and take heed to themselves. The battle of God 
 and the universe is one of spirits. If possible, your affections Thebewitch- 
 will be allured from your supreme and unchangeable good, to '"fhe°evTi ° 
 a mere shadow of good, which is only related to the busy day day.' 
 of your mortal life : the object of which is to fascinate you by 
 its pleasures, until you are unfitted for the eternal joy, and 
 formed for the incurable sorrow. And unless you enjoy 
 the sole defence of being " light in the Lord," your under- 
 standing will unavoidably be " taken captive," by some one 
 plausible phase of the great misleading scheme of thought. 
 Enquire earnestly, whether your thought and reasoning corre- 
 spond with the shell, and temporal form of things ? or with 
 the abiding reality of things, namely the eternal things of God. 
 " Meats for the body, and the body for meats ; but God shall 
 destory both it and tJicmr " But I will not be brought under i Cor. vi. 
 the power of any." " It ;" "them ;" "L" How grandly this man ^^'^3-. 
 asserts the distinction of his personality over the shadowy "it," 
 namely, his body ; and also over the " them," namely, the " all 
 things" related to that shadow. God, by a fixed, irreversible law, 
 destroys, breaks up, both "it" and "them;" but "/" am eternal. 
 Let me then take heed that " I," in my eternal heart and mind, 
 am related to the eternally good and eternally true, as the 
 shadowy "it," is related to the shadowy "them." Just 
 because our hearts are exposed to the influences, and our 
 minds, to the logic and sophistries, of the great fallen spirits, 
 who are seeking, by the spell and enchantment of things 
 temporal, to overmaster and hold our eternal souls, the present 
 is our " evil day." 
 
 There is one Power, and one only. Which can deliver us. 
 Let our eyes and our desires lay hold of the Man Who has 
 overcome all things ; until His throne of " True Light" being 
 established in us, shall clothe the whole inner man with 
 
228 Spirit -armour. 
 
 invincible armour. Then exceedingly exultant In the settled 
 harmony between our eternal personality and our eternal good, 
 the heart will sing : " Jehovah is my Light and my salvation ! 
 whom shall I fear ? Jehovah is the Strength of my life! of 
 Psa. xxvii. I. whom shall I be afraid ?" There are deeper, higher, greater 
 reasons than are ever told us, and greater than ever can be 
 told us, why we must be confederate with the Son of God, in 
 order to be saved from the wrath which is coming. The 
 opportunity given to us, of receiving Christ, and of being in 
 Him, is one of infinite grace and promise. 
 
 Chap. vi. 14-17- — Stand, therefore, Jiaving girt yojir 
 
 loins about with Truth, and having put on the breast- 
 plate of RigJiteonsness : 15 And having shod yonr feet 
 
 with the preparcdiicss of the Gospel of Peace ; 16 /;/ 
 
 addition to all, taking the shield of Faith, wherewith 
 yon shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the 
 
 wicked One ; ij A nd take the helmet of Salvation, and 
 
 the sword of the Spirit, zvJiicJi is the Word of God. 
 
 Having commended to us "the whole armour of God," 
 the apostle becomes more specific, and presents to us the 
 armour in detail. We must take heed that we are not misled 
 by the imagery. Our subject is armour for our spirits ; and 
 Spirit-armour, amiour for the spirit is spirit-armour. In a word. It is God. 
 " Take unto you the whole armour of God." We are spirit- 
 men on our way to God ; but clouds of spirit-powers encompass 
 us, who will, if possible, decoy us into side-paths, and dis- 
 qualify us to be received up into heaven. We have already 
 aimed to shew that these spirits are not weak and con- 
 temptible, but intellectually acute and powerful. In original 
 powers, they are equal to the highest principalities of heaven. 
 There are no heavens of thought and experience accessible to 
 man, while he is in the body, which these fallen angels are not 
 able to invade. One of these, in logical dispute with Michael, 
 the archangel, maintained his ground to the end. Michael 
 
The girdle. 229 
 
 seems finally to have cut short the dispute, by saying, " The 
 Lord rebuke thee," It should help our conceptions of the 
 rank and ability of these spirits, that they hesitated not to 
 meet our Lord in conference, to assail His mind with a 
 lengthened argumentative appeal, and to allure His affections 
 by " glory." It is certain, therefore, that we have no powers 
 adequate to the encounter with these fallen sons of God. Of 
 himself, no man is able to distinguish between their mind in 
 him, and his own mind, or between the motion of their fire in 
 his affections, and his own affections. With good reason, Paul 
 exhorts us not simply to put on spirit-armour, but Divine 
 armour. If they find no other light in us than our own reason, 
 they always prevail. If our spirituality be our own, it will 
 fall before them. If we are to stand against them, they must 
 find not us, but Christ in us. Our armour must be proved. 
 It must be armour which has wholly prevailed, armour m 
 which man has already passed through and beyond death, and 
 all the lands, visible and invisible of corruption, it must be 
 armour in which man has already gon-e up, and appeared 
 before God, with acceptance. Such is the armour with 
 which Christ clothes our spirits It is God-proof armour. 
 Paul meant to the full, all that His words express when he 
 wrote : " My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the 
 Power of His might." 
 
 In describing this armour of God, he assigns the first place The girdle. 
 to the girdle. ''Stand, having girt yonr loins about with 
 Truthr The girdle not only gathers together and holds up 
 what is loose, but braces up the man. Being firmly girt about 
 his loins, a man is twice a man. Every soldier in the British 
 army knows this. With his belt on, he stands more firmly on 
 the ground, has a freer use of his arms, and, on the strength of 
 his girdle, is able to throw the force of his whole body against 
 
 the enemy. r /- j • 
 
 Even so the Christian must see that the Truth of God sits 
 firmly about his inner man. He must tolerate no loose 
 thoughts, no wandering affections. He must gather up all 
 the powers of his soul into unity, and be girt about with 
 
230 The girdle. 
 
 eternal strength. To begin with, to the True God, he 
 must be a true man. In becoming a disciple of Christ, he 
 must be absolutely sincere. He must embrace the religion of 
 the New Testament, not on mere authority, but because, inde- 
 pendently of its being written, it is the Truth about God, 
 about man, and about all things. His discipleship must be no 
 half measure. It should not be fi-rst of all for his salvation, 
 and then for the Truth's sake ; but first of all for Truth's 
 sake, and then for his salvation by Truth. Christ is Truth. 
 Only " the True God " can save man. For in what does the 
 salvation of man consist, but the saving of his spirit from every 
 species of untruth, delusion, and evil ? A true Christian is a 
 man whose fixed intendment and resolve are on the side of 
 Truth. This man, God's Truth will defend, by sitting 
 close about his mind, by facing the enemy on all sides, and. 
 by infusing strength into him. In such an one there can be 
 no wavering. He suffers not his passions to dangle about his 
 feet, nor to float capriciously in the wind. His purpose is one, 
 and fixed. " He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, 
 driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think 
 that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded 
 
 James i. 6-8. ^^-^^ is unstable in all his ways." A man may have "truth in 
 his inward parts," and great singleness of purpose, and yet be 
 a very imperfect man. He may be sharp and hasty in temper, 
 or narrow in spirit, and harsh in his judgments, and yet be 
 whole-hearted and fixed in his resolve. 
 
 His noble sincerity and the power of God's Truth, make 
 a one. " A just man falleth seven times and riseth again ; for 
 the Lord upholdcth him with His hand." He is girt about, 
 not with his own truth, nor this planet's truth, but the Truth 
 which is "settled forever in Heaven." Might runs through 
 him from the everlasting God, as the law of gravitation runs 
 through the earth, holding it, winter and summer, and night 
 and day, in its orbit. " Rejoice not against me, O my enemy; 
 when I fall, I shall arise : when I sit in darkness, the Lord 
 
 Micahvii. 8. shall be a Light unto me." "Though an army should encamp 
 against me, my heart shall not fear : though war should rise 
 
The breastplate. 231 
 
 against me, in this I will be confident. Jehovah is the strength 
 
 of my life : of whom shall I be afraid ?" Ps. xxvii. 1-3. 
 
 The girdle gives strength, the breastplate covers and The breast- 
 defends all the vital powers. But whatever distinction there ^'^'^^' 
 may be between a soldier's belt and his breastplate, in this 
 Divine suit of armour there is perfect unity. " The whole 
 armour of God" is one throughout. For example, the Truth 
 of God entering into a man's heart and mind, and becoming 
 one with his inmost life, appears in his character and conduct 
 as righteousness. He is not only strong in the Lord, but in 
 what he has personally become, " through the Truth," he is 
 right before God. Nothing can imperil his safety. " Who is 
 he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good." i Pet. in. 13. 
 *' Behold," saith the Lord, " I give you power over all the 
 power of the enemy ; and nothing shall by any means 
 hurt you." Lukex. 19. 
 
 Practical righteousness is the evidence which the Christian 
 presents to the world, that Christ, the Truth of God, is a life 
 in his soul. " Let your light so shine before men, that they 
 may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in 
 heaven." By their spotless honour and integrity, all those Matt. v. 16. 
 who name the Name of Christ should compel the world to 
 think highly of God. If believers have not the habits and 
 character of God's children, it is right that they should be sus- 
 pected of not being His true children. The New Testament 
 does not speak doubtfully as to what manner of persons the 
 sons of God are. " That ye be blameless and guileless, the 
 sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and 
 perverse nation; among whom shine ye as lights in the world." Phil. n. 15- 
 
 " The righteousness which is of faith " is double. Within, 
 it has an aspect towards God; without, it has an aspect 
 towards men. It is an inward spirit, with an outward face. 
 Because it is inherent and essential righteousness, it is under 
 a Divine necessity of embodying itself in practical righteous- 
 ness before the world. 
 
 And comparing Scripture with Scripture, we shall find that, 
 this is precisely the view given of the Christian's breastplate. 
 
232 The ''feet shodr 
 
 In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul exhorts them to put on 
 " the breastplate of faith and love ;" while in this epistle, he 
 commends to believers " the breastplate of righteousness." 
 Compare Now " the breastplate of faith and love," and " the breastplate 
 e^l^vl'h^' °^ righteousness " are not two, but one and the same. Every 
 breastplate has two sides. The inside looks inwards and is a 
 secret to the world ; the outside faces the world, and is visible 
 to every one. Outwardly it is practical righteousness ; but 
 inwardly it is " faith and love." Faith and love are vital 
 principles, the lights of the soul, known only to God and the 
 believer himself; but from these proceed all the beauty and 
 excellency of his character. As in nature, light works by heat 
 to clothe the earth with beauty ; even so " faith worketh by 
 love," and clothes the believer with righteousness. Christ in 
 the man, makes a Christ-like man in the world. The light of 
 faith, working by the hidden fire of holy love, embodies itself in 
 a God-glorifying life. According to Peter, those who have 
 both the indwelling grace and the outshining evidence, make 
 their "calling and election sure." They "shall never fall." 
 " Entrance shall be ministered to them abundantly into the 
 2 Pet.i. lo-ii. everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 The "feet " The whole armour of God" includes armour for the feet. 
 
 Christianity undervalues nothing that is human. Christ is 
 Christianity. He has laid anew the basis of our nature. 
 " Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb." He clothed 
 Himself thence, with our flesh and blood, and came step by 
 step into the world. Step by step. He overcame the world ; 
 death ; Hades ; and, step by step. He surpassed, in the quali- 
 ties and completeness of His human nature, all the heavens. 
 Therefore, Christianity is completed Humanity; and com- 
 pleted Humanity includes the circuit of all things visible and 
 invisible. Christ is both the Head and the Feet of our race. 
 To put on Christ is to put on the ends of creation. Only the 
 highest virtues can qualify a man for the lowest service. To 
 inbreathe the Spirit of Christ, is to inbreathe the spirit of all 
 things. To " win Christ and be found in Him," is to win, and 
 embody, the grandest possible unity. 
 
 shod. 
 
The shield. 233 
 
 True Christianity leaves nothing in man ungraced. His 
 soul becomes a charmed house, and an attraction to angels ; 
 his body puts on a new dignity; his face beams with new 
 goodness and intelligence ; his very feet, or goings, are beauti- 
 ful. " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the 
 gospel of peace; and bring tidings of good things." The Rom. x. i"?, 
 prophet, from whom Paul quotes these words, wrote, " How 
 beautiful upon the mountains are the feet," &c. &c. In spirit, 
 he saw the figure of Christ, and after Him, of Christed man, 
 moving hither and thither, in the highest sphere of human 
 thought, but full of all goodness and humility, the blessings of 
 peace and goodwill accompanying him, and raying out from 
 his presence. The prophet was full of joy at his vision, and 
 exclaimed, " How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of 
 him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!" isa. m. 7. 
 
 Christianity always lifts a man above the previous level of 
 his life. He is man gone up on the mountains. He is 
 nearer heaven, he is at peace with God, he is full of love to 
 all the world. He is a blessed man, and longs to bless others. 
 The sun of heaven glows in his soul, and spreads wide and 
 far. " Glory to God in the highest" goes up from him ; and 
 out from him, peace and good will towards every creature. 
 He is always in readiness for all beautiful living, and good 
 doing. The Lord's goings are in his goings. His feet are 
 shod with a Divine preparedness. For success in the ways of 
 worldly covetousness, and equally for the stratagems and con- 
 tentions of party-zeal, he is altogether unfitted. But for 
 whatsoever is pure, lovely, good, and merciful, he is in readi- 
 ness. Christ liveth in him. He is shod therefore, — ready to 
 do whatever the Gospel of Love and Peace can do, to bless 
 mankind. The Divine anointing has gone down from his 
 head even to his feet. He would fain fill the whole world 
 with the savour of Christ. In this same spirit, in which he 
 walks on earth with men, he will be perfectly at home with 
 the angels. The fragrance of his life has already gone into 
 heaven, and prepared him a welcome. 
 
 Over the Christian's armour, and encompassing his whole The shield. 
 
234 T^^i^ Helmet. 
 
 person, there is a shield. God is his shield. " The Lord 
 Ps. ixxxiv.'ii. God is a sun and shield." " God is a shield unto them that 
 Prov. XXX. 5. put their trust in Him." "With favour wilt Thou compass 
 Ps. V. 12. the righteous, as with a shield." "Fear not, Abram ; I am 
 Gen. XV i. j-j^y shield." The shield then is clearly God's relation to his 
 trusting child. Man on his part must take hold on this 
 shield. Let him confide in it, and by no means drop it 
 throughout his evil day. " The Lord shall be thy confidence 
 Prov. iii. 26. and shall keep thy foot from being taken." " Cast not, there- 
 fore, away your confidence, which hath great recompence of 
 Heb. X. 35. reward." "The shield of faith" is incomprehensible to the 
 natural mind. It is the atmosphere in which the regenerate 
 live. It is full of God and the powers of the eternal world. To 
 those who live and breathe in it, it is the direct " evidence of 
 things unseen." The victory which overcometh the world, 
 and the shield which quenches the fiery darts of the enemy, 
 are one and the same faith. The fiery darts of the Wicked 
 One are the passions and lusts of this fleshly world. These 
 passions and lusts can only be quenched by the shield of faith, 
 or, in other words, by the realized presence of God and of a 
 superior world. Apart from the encompassing shield of the 
 Divine atmosphere, the darts of the Wicked One, instead of 
 being quenched, are welcomed, and encouraged, until all 
 remains of the life of Christ are consumed. " The desires of 
 the flesh and of the mind " being: kindled, a false fire burns 
 within the soul, and quenches the fire of God. " Quench not 
 the Spirit;" but by prayer, draw into, and about you, the air 
 of eternity, in which no dart of the Wicked One can live. 
 Let God's wall of pure, celestial fire encircle you, and the evil 
 fire shall pale, and fall within you, even as your coal-fire pales 
 and falls under the beams of the sun. 
 The Helmet. The helmet shields and crowns the head. " Take the 
 
 helmet of salvation." The precise idea of the apostle here 
 might have been less clearly perceived, had he not himself 
 expounded it, in his epistle to the Thessalonians ; where he 
 writes, " And for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God 
 hath appointed us to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus 
 
The sword. 235 
 
 Christ." No quarter must be given to doubt, in the believer's iThes. v.8, 9. 
 soul. He is not engaged in a doubtful conflict. If he is clear 
 as to his faith in Christ, his salvation by Christ is " sure and 
 certain." It was an appointment of God, prior to all his 
 works. " The Lord, He it is that doth go before thee ; He 
 will be with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee : fear 
 not, neither be dismayed." Let the adversary find that it is Deut. xxxi. 8. 
 more than his art can do, to stir in you distrust. Calmly, but 
 without wavering, protest : "I know in Whom I have be- 
 lieved," and keep your eye fixed on the end, — the salvation of 
 your soul. " Thus saith the Lord, Fear not, thou art -Mine ; 
 I have redeemed thee ; when thou passest through the waters, 
 I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not 
 overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
 not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." isa. xiiu. i, 2. 
 Hast thou not for thy " strong consolation," " God's two 
 immutable things," namely. His eternal purpose, and His word 
 of promise. Lift up your head then in the day of battle, and 
 let all your enemies see that if you are not crowned with sal- 
 vation, you are crowned with a Hope, which shall never make 
 you ashamed. " The redeemed of the Lord shall come to 
 Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads." "Now isa. xxxv. 10. 
 the God of your Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
 that you may abotind in Hope, through the power of the Holy 
 Spirit." Your Heavenly Father gives you His Spirit, that Rom. xv. 13. 
 your hope may partake of the strength of His purpose in - 
 Christ. Like the plume which graces the top of the helmet, 
 let your hope blossom on high, above the reach of fear and 
 doubt. 
 
 The Christian's sword is not only compatible with peace. The Sword, 
 but essential to peace. That the true peace may come in, the 
 false peace must be destroyed. Eternal Truth is essential to 
 eternal peace. Our goodwill to men must be faithful and 
 earnest. Love itself requires us vigorously to ply the sword 
 right and left, in cutting down the flattering and beloved 
 errors of men. We must use it the more fearlessly, seeing 
 that it is not our sword, nor any man's sword. " The sword 
 
236 The sword. 
 
 of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." The spirit-sword 
 of immutable Truth is confided to us. Unhesitatingly we 
 must thrust in this sharp sword with its two edges, amongst 
 the self-confident reasonings and imaginations, which are the 
 strongholds of Satan, in the natural mind. The high praises 
 of God are directly associated with the work of this destructive 
 sword, as it eats on its way, prevailing and prevailing. Psalm 
 cxlix. 6. In withholding men from the Truth, Satan's artifice 
 is to keep their minds full of self-pleasing knowledge, con- 
 stantly engaged in fortifying their carnality by more and more 
 plausible processes of reasoning, and entertained by every 
 species of sensuous and engrossing imagery. Against this 
 subtle pre-occupation of the souls of men, the children of God 
 are called to wage war, and prepare the field for the reign of 
 Truth, which is Salvation. " Blessed be the Lord my strength, 
 Psa. cxiiv. I. Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight," 
 " In Righteousness He doth judge and make war." " Out of 
 His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite 
 Rev. xix. II, the nations." " He shall smite the earth with the rod of His 
 ^^' mouth, and with the Breath of His lips shall He slay the 
 
 isa. xi. 4. wicked." The same Breath brings Peace and Power to His 
 true disciples. "Jesus stood in the midst, and saith to them, 
 Peace be unto you. As My Father hath sent Me, even so send 
 I you. And when He had said this. He breathed on them, 
 Jo nxx. 19- ^^^ %2^\k\. to them. Receive ye the Holy Spirit." This is the 
 sword with which we are to make war, rebuking and destroy- 
 ing " imaginations, {>.nyia!Mhug, reasonings), and every high thing 
 that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." " He hath 
 Is. xiix. 2. made My mouth like a sharp sword." 
 
 Chap. VI. 18-20. — Praying always with all prayer and 
 stipplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto zvith 
 all perseveraiiee and siipplieation for all saints. 1 9. A nd 
 for me, that ntteranee may be given to me, that I may 
 open my month boldly, to make knozvn the mystery of the 
 Gospel. 20. For which I am an ambassador in a chain; 
 that therein I may speak boldly, as I ongJit to speak. 
 
Praying always with every kind of prayer. 237 
 
 We must not forget upon what the whole efficiency — nay, The relation 
 the very existence of our armour depends. It is "the armour threffiden^y 
 of God ;" the integrity of which depends on the integrity of of the armour. 
 our relation to Christ, and the reality of our intercourse with 
 Him. If Christ be in us, as the ruling power of our souls, 
 we are armed ; but if the spirit of this world, rather than the 
 Spirit of Christ, prevail within our heart, we are unarmed. 
 If we rely on our profession of Christianity, or on a past ex- 
 perience, instead of seeking to be quickened daily by vital 
 currents from God, our armour becomes a dream, a non-entity. 
 It can never be separate from God, and therefore can only 
 clothe us so long as we abide in direct fellowship with the 
 Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. " Abide in me, and 
 I in you." " Without me, ye can do nothing." Unless the 
 health of His countenance streams into the inner man, vivi- 
 fying and strengthening all our powers, our Christianity will 
 be but an encumbrance, oppressing the spirit, as Saul's 
 armour oppressed David. The girdle, the breastplate, the 
 shield, the helmet, &c., &c., are but an amplification of the 
 loth verse : " My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the 
 power of His might," If, therefore, thinking nothing about 
 armour, we are only careful to walk with elevated spirits, 
 looking unto Jesus, we are in complete armour. If the enemy 
 never finds us alone, but always finds the Lord in us, we are 
 safe. By prayer, therefore, keep the way open between God 
 and your soul. 
 
 Paul intimates that there are many kinds and methods of prayingaiways 
 prayer. In order to be "strongf in the Lord," he counsels us with every 
 
 1 . , • 1 11 )) A ir • 11 kind of prayer. 
 
 to be " praymg always, with all prayer. A self-imposed duty, 
 discharged at set times, is clearly not his idea of prayer. It 
 is rather a living friendship, including a rich variety of com- 
 munion. Prayer is the life of God in the soul, running through, 
 and qualifying, the whole circle of our thoughts and affections. 
 At times the holy fire will be a clear flame, ascending straight to 
 heaven, carrying your soul along with it, a glowing sacrifice to 
 God ; at other times, it will be but a smoke of desire. But let 
 it never go out. There is strong prayer, when every power in 
 
238 Prayer for all Saints. 
 
 the soul combines to lay hold on God ; and there is a state of 
 tacit prayer, when the soul rests in contemplation, and the still 
 small rain of God, refreshes and fertilises both the heart and 
 mind. There is intense prayer, when the soul is an agony of 
 desire; and there is the prayer of tranquil submission. There 
 IS prayer which abounds in hope ; and there is the prayer of 
 oppression and fear. The upturned eye, swimming in light, 
 indicates a praying spirit ; but the downcast eye, clouded with 
 self-reproach, bears witness that the spirit is praying no less 
 earnestly. There is the smoothly flowing prayer of thanks- 
 giving, when the soul is full of the goodness of the Lord ; and 
 there is the prayer of the broken heart, confessing and deplor- 
 ing sin and depravity. There is the prayer of ecstasy, which 
 exclaims ; " I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. My 
 Ps civ %x meditation of Him shall be sweet. I will exult in the Lord." 
 34- Or as when Mary said: " My soul doth magnify the Lord, and 
 
 T.uke i 46 47 "^y spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." And there is the 
 hidden prayer of sighs and groans, which cannot be uttered. 
 Every kind of prayer is acceptable to God, and profitable to 
 the soul. Every season of the year, and every hour of the 
 day, and of the night, are reflected in our ever-changing 
 spiritual conditions ; and in them all we should freely use our 
 privilege of childlike communion with our God and Father, 
 If, apparently, He takes no notice of us, if we have prayed 
 for years and found nothing, we should still pray on. " Men 
 Luke xviii. I. ouglit always to pray, and not to faint." It is God's manner to 
 bear long with His children. In the end. He will do for them 
 exceeding abundantly above all that they have ever asked, or 
 thought. Says our Lord, when urging perseverance in prayer: 
 "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and 
 night unto Him, though He bear long with them ? I tell you 
 Luke xviii. 7, t^"^^t He will." Prayer delayed is seed sown in heaven, God 
 8. allows our capital to accumulate in His own hands. No prayer, 
 
 no tear, is lost. But it is much more for our profit, that 
 tenderness of desire be kept alive in us, than that we should 
 be indulged in spiritual joy. 
 Prayer for all The coutiuuous Spirit of prayer is not only profitable for 
 
 Saints. 
 
Pray also ''for me',' Paul, 239 
 
 the individual, but fulfils a service " for all Saints." Every 
 member of the body of Christ, is related to every other 
 member. Through intermediate joints and links, the condi- 
 tion of each one, more or less affects all. We are incorporated 
 with all saints. We have an inheritance in them all. We 
 receive good, and shall for ever receive good from them all. 
 We all contribute to the common atmosphere, in which the 
 whole body of believers live and breathe. Most watchfully, for 
 the sake of all, we should abide in a spirit of prayer. Our 
 sins and evil affections vitiate, and our prayers purify, the 
 atmosphere of all souls. The spirit of sonship which is in us; 
 from the One Beloved Son, is a spirit of love not only to all 
 saints, but to all men. The love of Christ passeth knowledge, 
 and expands the desires of the soul, until they embrace the 
 whole world. " I exhort that supplications, prayers, interces- 
 sions, and giving of thanks, be made for all incur The love i Tim. ii. i. 
 of God which prayeth, in us, for men in India or Greenland, is 
 as much movingf there as in our hearts. Nothinof is far off 
 from God, No one can be too far from us to be reached by 
 the spirit of prayer. The magnetic fluid has commenced its 
 work of bringing all nations into an inter-communion of sym- 
 pathy. The lightning of God's Spirit, no sooner breaketh out 
 in the east than it shineth in the west. Stars throw not out 
 their beams so far as Souls. The outgoings of God, through 
 the sympathies and affections of His children, are by no means 
 shut up in the Church. " They go down into the desert, and 
 p^o into the sea ; which beinof brouo^ht forth into the sea, the 
 waters shall be healed." " The waters are peoples, and mul- ^ 
 
 titudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev-xvu. 15. 
 
 Paul is humble enough to beg special prayer for himself: — me'^^Paui"'^'^'^ 
 "for all saints, and for mer As a joint-heir with all saints of 
 the eternal kingdom, he is a needy man ; but as an ambassador 
 for Christ, he is still more in need. Although an old man and a 
 prisoner, he does not even suggest that his friends should pray 
 for his personal liberty ; but that his chain may neither fetter 
 his soul nor his tongue. Pray that the Truth in Christ may be 
 more earnestly spoken, and more widely spread, through " my 
 
240 The answer. 
 
 chain." His imprisonment had already promoted the very 
 end of his ambassadorship. It had not only given him the 
 desire of his heart, which was, that he might preach the Gospel 
 Rom. i. 15. in Rome, but through foreigners and travellers, he was com- 
 The answer, municating it to the ends of the earth. His burning words 
 were carried every where. In his letter to the Colossians, he 
 writes : " the word of the Truth of the Gospel which is come 
 Col. i. 5, 6. unto you, as it is in all the world." Beyond his spoken words, 
 his epistles, written in confinement, made known the mystery of 
 Christ, with a fulness and precision, and withal, with a majesty 
 of boldness, which his bodily presence could never have done. 
 In person, he was not commanding; but an enemy acknow- 
 ledges that " his letters are weighty and powerful," 2 Cor. x. 
 10. In them, Paul is still speaking, with an authority such as 
 no king ever had. The words of all philosophers, from the 
 beginning of the world, are doing less for immortal man, than 
 the words which we owe to Paul's chain. Paul left no child- 
 ren, according to the flesh, but like another Abraham, his 
 spiritual seed is " as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as 
 the sand which is by the sea-shore, innumerable." The Empire 
 of the Caesars is not ; but after eighteen centuries, the human 
 race is still coming, and coming in ever-increasing numbers, to 
 sit at the feet of the ambassador which Rome held in bonds. 
 The singular ability and boldness which were given to this 
 man, " to make known the mystery of the Gospel," have 
 secured for him as a teacher," both universality and immortality. 
 According to him, no one should preach the Gospel timidly 
 or apologetically. Ask God, said he, that I may neither speak 
 weakly nor hesitatingly, but " boldly, as I ought to speak." 
 He desired to be an example to all men of the freedom and 
 power, of the love and enlargement, of the riches and unity, of 
 our New Humanity in Christ Jesus. How should one speak 
 whose subject is the glory of God, and the hope of man } If 
 the truth of the Gospel be a question, then God's character is 
 lost, and the creation has no end that is worthy of respect. 
 The truth of the Gospel is the absolute necessity. It is never, 
 therefore, to be degraded down to a level with the appearances 
 
The answer. 24 1 
 
 and laws of the material universe ; nor is it to be presented as 
 a well-reasoned probability ; but as the open mystery of the 
 Father, and of the eternal humanity of Christ. The Gospel 
 not only ranks in the category of what is real and eternal, but 
 is the clear, known, and certain solution of every human and 
 cosmical difficulty. It is the revelation of an order of things 
 which was in God before the world began. There is nothing 
 arbitrary about it. It is but God reflected, and as He is to be 
 reflected in the mirror of renovated humanity and renovated 
 nature. No one who knows the Gospel ever says. It may 
 be true ; he is sure that it alone is the Truth, unto the glory 
 of God, the joy of men, and of the whole creation. If the 
 Gospel be not a revelation of the Truth, then there is no true 
 God. There is neither justice nor goodness in the Maker of 
 all things, if the Gospel be not the truth of His Heart and 
 Purpose. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE CONCLUSION. 
 
 Chap. VI. 21, 22. — But that ye also may know my 
 ajfairs, how I do, Tydiicits, tJie beloved brother a?id faith- 
 ful mhiister in the Lord, shall make knoxvji nnto you all 
 things : 22. Whom I have sent unto yo2i for the same pur- 
 pose, that you migJit know onr affairs, and that he might 
 comfort yonr hearts. 
 
 Tychicus. Almost thesc very words are repeated in the Epistle to the 
 Colossians. Tychicus is the bearer of both epistles, and seems 
 to be worthy of the honour. There must have been much in 
 common between this Asiatic and Paul. More than a brother, 
 he calls him " the beloved brother," and " faithful minister and 
 
 Col. iv. 7. fellow-servant in the Lord." How beautiful are the feet of this 
 brother, shod with peace and beauty, " the preparedness of the 
 Gospel." From Paul, the direct ambassador of Jesus, whose 
 words have about them a charm, as of the warmth of the third 
 heavens, Tychicus brings circular letters, which are to be 
 everywhere read by the Churches and the disciples. A letter 
 is much, a letter accompanied by the living face and voice of a 
 messenger is more ; especially when the messenger is an inti- 
 mate friend. One of the special ends of divine Providence is 
 to enrich the final inter-communion of human hearts. Separa- 
 tions, sorrows, bereavements, and all the new links of friend- 
 ship, which are created by these afflictions, are working to- 
 gether to give to the soul greater depth and more acute 
 sensibilities, as well as to augment the common interest of our 
 future relationships. Paul leaves much for his friend to com- 
 municate in free and homely speech. His letters will be a store- 
 house of wisdom for all time. But personal matters — all such 
 particulars as are interesting between friends — they will get by 
 
Advantages of face-to-face cornmimication. 243 
 
 word of mouth from Tychicus. "He shall make known unto 
 you all things." 
 
 It is but another proof of the fatherliness of Paul's love to 
 his converts, and of his confidence in their childlike love to 
 him, that he takes for granted their desire to know everything 
 about himself. The next thing to seeing me, and being 
 with me, will be to see this beloved brother whom I send to 
 you. You will be able to learn every thing about me from his 
 lips. No written words could, in the same way, put them in Advantages of 
 possession of minutiae about his health, circumstances, daily 
 
 communica- 
 
 life, and prospects. The same things cannot be communicated '^°"- 
 on paper, which a living friend supplies by the tones of his 
 voice, by the play of his countenance, and by the ever-chang- 
 ing expressions of his eye. Sitting face to face with Tychicus, 
 the partition would be very thin between Paul and the various 
 churches which he had planted. And with what intentness of 
 eye and ear, they would watch and listen, remembering the 
 words which he had spoken to them, the last time they were 
 together : " And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom 
 I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face 
 no more." They would ask a thousand questions, and eating Actsxx. 25. 
 into their souls the words of Tychicus, they would almost feel 
 that they were in the presence of their never-to-be-forgotten 
 friend and pastor again. " I have sent him unto you that he 
 might comfort your hearts^ 
 
 Human life is made up not only of things high and holy, 
 but of little interchanges of courtesy and pleasantry, which no 
 wise man will despise. We will retain our mountains, our 
 broad rivers, and our tall trees ; but we will not part with our 
 homely flowers. We cannot always be great, nor always be 
 doing great things. When the angel of God passes our way, 
 we will gladly be drawn out beyond ourselves ; but more fre- 
 quendy we will be at our ease in the green pastures, enjoying 
 the delightful nothings of social life, while noiselessly, without 
 a strain, soul flows in upon soul. 
 
 Where shall we be, when some beloved Tychicus shall bring 
 to us tidings of Paul's affairs ? How he looks now ! how he 
 
244 Peace. 
 
 has been occupied through the centuries ! and what service he 
 is now rendering to angels and to men ! He belongs as much to 
 us, as to the men of his own day. All who have read, loved, 
 and studied his epistles, have contracted a very real relation- 
 ship to him. Paul has diffused himself through millions, who 
 constitute a special order of minds, bound together, and fitted 
 for future fellowship and co-operation. 
 
 Chap. vi. 23, 24. — Peace be to the brethren, and love 
 %vitJi faith, from God tJie FatJier and the Lord Jesits 
 Christ. 24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord 
 Jesus Christ in incorruption. Amen. 
 
 As he began, so he closes his epistle, pouring out his heart 
 unto God for his brethren. All who had obtained like precious 
 faith with him, were his brethren and companions for endless 
 life. " For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now 
 say, peace be within thee. Because of the House of the Lord 
 Ps. cxxiis, 9. our God I will seek thy good." Of what a house have we 
 and their ' bccome members by our union with Christ ! Think of its 
 inutuaiaffec- antiquity, its many mansions, its orders, its multitudes, its affec- 
 tions ; and God in all, and all in God. Salutations come to 
 us from heaven, and from the ends of the earth. " All the 
 saints salute you." Those in heaven, even more than those 
 on earth. Not only your ancestors and friends in heaven, but 
 angels, apostles, martyrs, salute you. They rejoice exceed- 
 ingly that you are taken up into their number. They hail 
 you, embrace you, welcome you. ** All the saints " send you 
 good wishes, and all that is in God is eager to bless you. 
 Peace. The affections of God and of His children together, con- 
 
 stitute a mighty peace. Paul, in closing his letter, calls out, 
 from God and heaven, this " great peace " — outbreathes it in 
 his living love towards the brethren. All things are in this 
 peace, and all things reconciled. It is the crown of the God- 
 man, Christ Jesus. It is God's fulness. The Holy Spirit is 
 
Faith and Love. 245 
 
 peace. It cannot be numbered nor uttered. It is the life of all 
 God's powers in a harmony of active rest. It " passeth under- 
 standing." The peace which springs out of the pure eternal 
 love of God the Father, and of which our Lord, in the night 
 of His agony, spoke again and again, as being His peace, 
 must be a very deep, interior power. All the billows of wrath 
 which heaved within Him, and broke over His soul, did not 
 reach to that inmost temple of His Spirit, in which the power of 
 His Father was living and reigning. The seventeenth chapter 
 of John's Gospel is a standing evidence, for all time, that, in His 
 darkest and most awful night, there was a communion of 
 mighty peace between Him and His Father. In our nature, 
 He found fear and sorrow, overwhelming sorrow ; but in God, 
 confidence and peace. The humanity of Jesus is now unassail- 
 able. It is a fortress of peace, against which all the powers of 
 hell are helpless. Paul prays that his brethren may know the 
 peace of God, which is built up in the man, Jesus Christ. He 
 was persuaded that no tribulation, either in this world or the 
 world to come, could break the peace which he himself had 
 found in Christ. It was in him, and at the same time in " God 
 the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," flowing into him 
 moment by moment, from its divine source. 
 
 He not only ascribes this peace, but our love and faith also. Faith and 
 directly to God. " Peace be to the brethren, and love with ^°^^- 
 faith, from God the Father, and the Lord fesns Christ ^ 
 Nothing short of a divinely-wrought faith and love will be 
 able to receive the peace of God. The Father, in His Son, 
 by His Spirit, must open His own way to us, and both pre- 
 pare and fill the double vessel of our heart and mind. Faith 
 and love are His own work, and are the open channels by 
 which His peace flows into, and fills the inner man. 
 
 Instead of breaking the Unity of God, the Trinity is essen- The Trinity. 
 tial to His Unity. As without the Father, the Son were an 
 impossibility, so likewise without the Son, God were no Father. 
 Or to speak in a figure. Without the Divine Root and 
 Ground, no Flower of Godhead could be ; and without the 
 Flower, the Root were unmanifested even to Itself. Also 
 
246 Grace. 
 
 without the Spirit, proceeding equally from the Root and 
 Flower, no proceeding action could be, and therefore neither 
 creature nor creation. 
 
 In order to be blessed, we must be related to the hidden 
 root and ground of God, and we must also be related to the 
 Flower or " Beauty of God," in order to know and enjoy Him. 
 But without the Spirit of God we could be related to neither. 
 We cannot be a part of God any more than our earth can be 
 a part of the sun ; but how truly we are taken up into God, by 
 God, In His Spirit, coming down into us, " God is Love," 
 and His Son Is "the Son of His Love;" and by His Spirit, 
 both the hiddenness and the glory of His Love are shed abroad 
 in our hearts. The Spirit which is given to us, proceeding 
 equally from the Father and the Son, Is both the Spirit that 
 loves, and the Spirit that is beloved. Unless in our One God 
 there were the Loving One and the Beloved, there were no 
 ground for family relationships, and no source whatever of 
 unity and joy. 
 Grace. "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is the gracious 
 
 Love of the Only Begotten of the Father, reaching, touch- 
 ing, gracing, transforming, blessing our nature : " The Love 
 of God," which gives brilliance and living action to the sun, 
 fragrance and flavour to fruits, odour and beauty to flowers, 
 and good to everything, " be with you." " The Love of God," 
 give you light, loveliness, fragrance, and every virtue. " The 
 Love of God," which makes the relation between the sexes so 
 keen, so tender, and fruitful, be with you ; that the keen, tender, 
 fruitful life may be in you and abound. " The Love of God," 
 which makes the Inexpressible bond between mother and babe, 
 be with you, an inexpressible bond between you and His Christ. 
 " The Love of God," that pure flame of life, which springs In 
 Jesus, and clothes Him with ever-living glory, be with you, the 
 pledge and earnest of your immortality with Him. " The 
 Love of God," which rests In its own All-Sufficiency to re- 
 deem the whole creation from all evil, and to fill and flood 
 it with His own Life and Glory, be with you, that you may 
 abound in hope, giving glory to God. " The Love of God," 
 
That one word, Grace, is all our need. 247 
 
 which is too pure for a mortal's sight, and too intense for a 
 sinner's soul, be with you, as a sweetly tempered power, in 
 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being bone of your bone, 
 and flesh of your flesh, He knows what you can bear, and the 
 ardour of His Father's Love, in its passage through Him to 
 you, He softeneth down to a mild grace. 
 
 Everything you need to make you good, wise, humble, Thatoneword, 
 lovely, useful, and happy, Is comprehended in the Grace of our ^^;''^^;J' ^^^ 
 Lord Jesus Christ. If you care for yourself and your imme- 
 diate friends only, and not for others also, is it not that you 
 have too little of the grace of Jesus Christ ? Or if you show 
 a self-loving partiality for your own Church, and a prejudice 
 against other churches, would not more of the grace of the 
 Lord Jesus enlarge your heart, and correct the one-sidedness 
 of your character ? If you carry yourself haughtily towards 
 any one, is not that a sign that your own spirit is strong, and 
 the grace of Christ weak in you ? Do not your impatience, 
 irritability, and anger, give evidence of your deficiency in 
 Grace ? I f you are fretful or downcast under suffering, would not 
 more of the grace of Jesus produce in you an exactly contrary 
 condition ? If you surrender your tongue to foolish talking, 
 does it not argue an absence of the dignity and wisdom which 
 are in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ? If you fall into 
 any vice or sin whatsoever, would not a greater measure of 
 His grace restrain you ? It is clear, therefore, that the grace 
 of Christ is precisely what you want, to make you everything 
 that you should be. It is everything that can relate you 
 happily to God and advantageously to man. One word ex- 
 presses the whole circle of your wants. For that one word, 
 Grace, stands for " the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ 
 Jesus." It is the virtue of His all-perfect Humanity operating 
 within you, the one thing that roots, grows, and opens in us 
 every excellence and charm of spirit and character. 
 
 " Grace be with all them who love our Lord Jesus Christ Love to 
 (|p ap^a/xr/'a) in incorruption." Where love is not, relation is ^^'qII'JI 
 not ; and without relation to the Son of God, there can be no 
 renewal. Therefore, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
 
248 Love to Christ. 
 
 I Cor. xvi.22. Christ, he will be Anathema Maranatha." He can be nothing 
 else. For not being a recipient of the transforming power of 
 the Son of God, he must abide in the limitations, darkness, 
 and curse, of his own unloving and unlovely spirit. Every 
 man must either love, and abide by his own corrupt nature, 
 or love and appropriate the Divine humanity of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. To love Him is to loathe our own impurity, 
 and to long for His Purity. It is not only the Divine love, 
 but the Divine wisdom also which prays in Paul : Grace be 
 with all them that love, &c. Grace will be with them. All 
 others are rejecters of Grace, and therefore abide " children of 
 wrath." The word df^apo-za, by which the apostle characterizes 
 the affection of Christ-loving souls, means incapacity of decay. 
 It is the condition of immortal natures, and eminently of our 
 Lord's glorious body. In i Cor. xv. the word occurs four 
 times, and, in each instance, is rendered " incorruption." In 
 Romans ii. 7, and in 2 Tim. i. 10, it is rendered "immortality." 
 In the humanity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, death 
 is abolished, and immortality brought to light, for all men. 
 To all them that love Him, He gives power to be sons of 
 God, in His own eternal life. Loving the incorruptible, im- 
 mortal man, they become what they love. Receiving His 
 Spirit of life, they are changed into the same image, and con- 
 stituted, as He is, for immortality. What they love, that they 
 are, in the centre of their being ; and what they are in their 
 inmost spirit, they shall be in their whole eternal body. What- 
 ever is not in man's love falls away from him, as having no 
 essential inherence; but whatever is in his inmost love clothes 
 him for ever. His love to Christ opens, fulfils, and crowns 
 itself, in his endless form. As our earthly end was involved 
 in our earthly beginning, so, in the Divine beginning of our 
 
 jude, 24, 25. love to Christ, is involved our Divine end. 
 
 ^ \ 
 
Christ and His seed, central to all 
 
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