Ephesians 4

20. The apostle does not say God is willing: this was unnecessary. He turns the gaze of the Ephesians upon the wonders of God’s power—God “is able to do”; and connects it with that love of Christ and fullness of God of which he had just been speaking. There is a little cleft of heaven opened to us by these words, and some light breaks in. Thoughts and prayers are both together swallowed up and drowned in the depths of God’s power and goodness; for he “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” The word is peculiar, “out of measure—surpassingly, or transcendently,” breaking over all bounds of our comprehension. You will feel its force more when you take along with you the whole of the glowing context, wherein the language labors in order to indicate the great ideas. We have to comprehend the incomprehensible, and to measure the immense, and to sound the unfathomable, “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge”; to comprehend with all saints the dimensions of that which stretches beyond all human lines—the “love of Christ.” As the measure of what God will give is his power, so the measure is the love of Christ; and both are summed up in that amazing expression, “all the fullness of God!” J. W. A.

“He is able to do abundantly more, yea, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” It is a text made up of words picked and packed together by the wisdom of God; picked and packed together on purpose for the succor and relief of the tempted; that they may, when in the midst of their distresses, cast themselves upon the Lord their God. Bun.—Our Heavenly Father always sends his children the things they ask or better things. He answers their petitions in kind or in kindness; but, while we think only of ease, he consults our profit. We call for present comfort; he considers our everlasting rest; and therefore, when he sends not the very things we ask, he hears us by sending greater than we can ask or think. Cecil.

The power that worketh in us. In God to will is to act, to favor is to bless; and thus grace is not simply kindly feeling on the part of God, but a positive boon conferred on man. Grace is a real agent; it is “the power that worketh in us,” illuminating the intellect, warming the heart, strengthening the will of redeemed humanity. It is the might of the everlasting Spirit renovating man by uniting him to the sacred manhood of the Word Incarnate. H. P. L.

21. The apostle strikes a note of thanksgiving that is to be endless in the Church, militant and triumphant. All ages shall be full of the “praise of the glory of his grace.” Here we form low conceptions of what our Heavenly Father is able to do; and we can give thanks only according to our knowledge; but, as our comprehension of divine grace and glory increases, we shall fall down on the golden pavement in speechless rapture of gratitude. J. W. A.

1. I THEREFORE, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation 2 wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one 3 another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There 4 is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, 6 one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in 7 you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of 8 Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and 9 gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into 10 the lower parts of the earth? he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above 11 all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; 12 and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for 13 the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 14 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and

15 cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may 16 grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edify- ing of itself in love.

THOUGH the Son of God, says the apostle, ascended on high that he might fill all things, yet he condescended to give to men a regal ascension gift, that of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And the end to be attained by this gift is, that all the Church become one in faith and knowledge, and so become one that it shall be, as it were, the earthly counterpart of the Redeemer. Christ is one person, divine and human, and so is the Church, which is his body, to be one in him. As the end of the first creation will be realized, when it becomes the unclouded mirror of the internal glory of the Creator, so the end of the new creation, which is grounded in the incarnation, will be reached when it becomes the express image of the incarnate God, when it comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is the prophetic hope, the ideal end of the Church of our Lord. Its very growth, if it be healthful, must be a growth in union and toward unity, just as a plant is held together while it grows by a more intense unifying power at the heart of its life. The Church in its essence is a spiritual organism, vitally united to Christ, and all its atoms are ensouled by the common life of one and the selfsame Spirit. And though this “note” of the Church applies in an eminent sense only to the radiant bride, the New Jerusalem, yet it is also the instinct of her deepest life, even while militant here on earth, that she may at last appear before her divine bridegroom, having no spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, and receive from his loving hands the seamless robe and the victor’s crown. H. B. S.

1-16. This section presents the ground of the Christian’s duties as a member of the Church, viz., the unity of the mystical body of Christ (vs. 1-6), the manifoldness of grace given to each (vs. 7-13), that we may come to perfection in him (vs. 14-16). A.

1. Nothing is there more noble than to suffer any evil for Christ’s sake. I count not Paul so happy because he was “caught up into Paradise” as because he was cast into the dungeon; I count him not so happy because he “heard unspeakable words” as because he endured those bonds; I count him not so happy because he was “caught up into the third heaven” as I count him happy for those bonds’ sake. For, that these latter are greater than the former, hear how even he himself knew this; for he saith not, “I, who heard unspeakable words, beseech you”; but what? “I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you.” Chrys.

3. Keep the unity of the Spirit.** Only think what it would be if we looked on one another as brethren, redeemed by one ransom, pledged to one service; if we bore with one another’s weaknesses, if we helped one another’s endeavors, if each saw and heard in the words and life of his neighbor an image of Christ and a pledge of the truth of his promises. Consider what it would be if, with no quarrels, with no jealousies, with no unkindness, we sought, not every man his own, but every man also another’s welfare, as true members, one of another, of one body, of which Christ is the head. Consider what it would be if our judgments of men and things were like Christ’s judgments—neither strengthening the heart of the careless and sinful by our laxity, nor making sad the heart of God’s true servant by our uncharitableness; not putting little things in the place of great, nor great things in the place of little; not neglecting the unity of the Spirit. T. A.

In the bond of peace. It is not possible that unity should exist in enmity and discord. Paul would have us linked and tied one to another, not simply that we be at peace, not simply that we love one another, but that in all there should be but one soul. A glorious bond is this! With this bond let us bind ourselves together, alike to one another and to God. Chrys.—It is a truer discrimination that recognizes the presences of God in men, the saints that are in the world, not by the miracles they work, but by the miracles they are; by the way in which they bring the grace of God to bear on the simple duties of the household and the street. The saint-hoods of the fireside and of the market-place—they wear no glory round their heads; they do their duties in the strength of God; they have their martyrdoms and win their palms, and though they get into no calendars, they leave a benediction and a force behind them on the earth when they go up to heaven. P. B.

4. One body.** The idea of the Church as presented in the Bible is that believers scattered over the world are a band of brethren, children of the same Father, subjects of the same Lord, forming one body by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, uniting all to Christ as their living head. This indwelling of the Spirit makes all believers one in faith, one in their religious life, one in love. Hence they acknowledge each other as brethren, and are ready to bear each other’s burden. This is the communion of saints. The Church, in this view, is the mystical body of Christ. As believers in their individual capacity scattered over the world constitute the mystical body of Christ on earth, so the local churches constitute one body, which is the visible church in each successive age. These churches are one body, first, spiritually. They have one God and Saviour. They are united in one spiritual life. They have one faith and one baptism. They are one body also externally and visibly. First, because they recognize each other as churches. This involves the acknowledgment that each has all the prerogatives and privileges which by the law of Christ belong to such organizations: the right to conduct public worship, to preach the gospel, to administer the sacrament, and to exercise discipline. Secondly, they are one body, because membership in one of these local churches involves the right to membership in every other such church. The terms of church membership are prescribed by Christ, and can not be altered. We are bound to receive those whom he receives.

5. So far as all believers are taught by the Spirit, they must agree in doctrine. The apostle, therefore, says that, as there is one body and one Spirit, so there is one faith, as well as one Lord and one baptism. What is thus taught in Scripture is found to be historically true. All Christians believe in the apostles’ creed; they all accept the doctrinal decisions of the first six Ecumenical Councils concerning the nature of God and the person of Christ. They therefore all believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and of the perfect Godhead and perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. They adore him as God manifest in the flesh. They receive him as the only Saviour of men. They believe that he saves us by his blood, by bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. They believe that all power in heaven and earth is committed to his hands, and that to him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confers that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. They all believe in the Holy Ghost, and the absolute necessity of regeneration and sanctification by the power of his grace. They believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. This is the confession that has been made in all ages, in all languages, and in all places where Christians have existed. C. H.—The unity of faith in the Son of God; the unity of common regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost; the unity of love to Christ, and love in Christ to all who are Christ’s; the unity of loving work for Christ, which, amid all distinctions of minor dogmas, has a single eye for the glory of Christ and a single aim to develop his kingdom in every ransomed soul—that is the unity of the Church. That is the unity which has been manifested in every age. That is the unity which Christ prayed for, and which was granted him, and which distinguishes and separates the Church of Christ from the world. In that unity all modes of holding truth coincide. With that unity denominational distinctions are entirely consistent. As we exhibit the loving principles of that divine unity, all the earthly that divides the spiritual brotherhood becomes secondary in thought, and the children of God realize their absolute and eternal oneness. Bedell.

8. The same God is revealed as Redeemer both under the Old Testament and the New, and the Je-

Jehovah of the one is the Jesus of the other. In Ps. 68, here cited, the inspired poet, while discussing the interpositions of Jehovah, has used language which was fully realized only in the victory and exaltation of Christ. Not that there is a double sense, but the Jehovah of the theocracy was he who, in the fullness of time, assumed humanity, and what he did among his people prior to the incarnation was anticipative of nobler achievements in the nature of man. The Psalmist felt this, and, under the influence of such emotions, rapt into future times, and, beholding salvation completed, enemies defeated, and gifts conferred, thus addressed the Conqueror, “Thou hast ascended on high.” Such a quotation was, therefore, to the apostle’s purpose. There are gifts in the Church—gifts the result of empire and victory—gifts in accordance with the earnest expectation of ancient ages; for it was predicted that Jesus should ascend on high. Eadie.

Ascended up. Amid the shades of night he came; in the redness of the morning dawn he went away; ever, ever shalt thou stand before our souls, thou glorified Saviour, in the same attitude in which thou didst leave the world, with thy hands extended over thy chosen to bless them! A. T.—If we look to the Ascension and that last blessing with which Christ’s earthly work was consummated, we shall know that all we do and all we are has in possibility—God grant that it may have in deed—a vital relationship with heaven. Earth may be seen by us united with heaven, not as in a dream to the sleeping patriarch, but in the open triumph of a Saviour. The whole life of a Christian, when we view it in the light of Ascension day, is one in its character, in its progress, in its issue. Such a view of life is undoubtedly solemn, but it is also inexpressibly grand. B. F. W.—Led captivity captive. Christ, the King on high, hath imprisoned sin, slain death, destroyed hell. Sin, death, hell, and the devil had imprisoned us; but Christ hath taken them captive again. His kingdom and office are above, that He may lead captive my captivity, kill my executioner, condemn my sin, slay my death, and condemn my hell. Luther.

7-16. The most comprehensive view of the Christian ministry is given here. Its original grant and institution is traced to the mediatorial work of the Son of God. The high preeminence of this gift appears in its distributive variety of office—“apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers”—and in the important end for which it was ordained—the completion of the Church. We can not conceive any more entire view of this institution, nor one that more decisively marks its divine original. Bridges.—Our ascended Lord has given to his people apostles and prophets—these being for the foundation of the Church—evangelists for its extension, and pastors and teachers for stationary work of consolidation and instruction. These are given in order to the “perfecting” or thorough equipment and training of saints to their “work of ministry” in truth and love. D. F.

11. “He gave some, apostles,” etc., should be filled so as to be intelligible—“he gave some to be apostles,” etc. A.—When the Lord made this gracious gift to the Church, he only continued and exemplified his Old Testament plans, with such changes as the new arrangement demanded. The whole tribe of Levi he gave of old to Israel for the work of the ministry. A ministerial tribe became unsuitable to a dispensation that was for all nations; and so the families of God’s people everywhere furnish the ministers of the New Testament. The New Testament introduces not a new religion, but a new form of the old, and it continues therein a separate body of men, chargeable specially with keeping the house of the Lord, and instructing the people out of his law. J. Hall.—Whether we take the Prophets under the old dispensation, or the Lord’s messengers under the new, we find that the distinctive characteristics of a true minister of God lay in a call and a qualification. The qualification involved a gift, a power, and a training. He who had a call from God, a gift from God, and a power from God, and he only, was ever prophet, evangelist, or pastor and teacher in any scriptural sense. The training varied with the age, dispensation, and circumstances; but no training ever did, or ever can, make him a minister who has no call, no gifts, and no power sent upon his soul by the anointing of the eternal Spirit. Arthur.

The third rank is assigned by Paul to the evangelists or itinerant missionaries. The name itself indicates that their chief business was to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, primarily among nations yet unconverted, but not exclusively. The discourses of the evangelists turned chiefly upon the main facts of the Saviour’s life, especially his resurrection. This easily gave rise to the later application of the term to the authors of our written gospels. We find the evangelists commonly in the immediate neighborhood, or at least in the service, of the apostles, as their “helpers” and “fellow-laborers.” Pastors and teachers. Denoting by these terms the regular overseers of single congregations in their twofold capacity. These officers are undoubtedly the same with those elsewhere in the New Testament commonly called presbyters and four times bishops (viz., in Acts 20: 28; Phil. 1: 1; 1 Tim. 3: 2; Tit. 1: 7), whose business is expressly declared to be the feeding of the flock. P. S.

12,13. Stripping this passage of its beautiful inspired phraseology, and dropping its reference to those miraculous gifts which have now passed away, its gist is this: that the ministry of God’s word is the great appointed means for the perfecting of the saintly or Christlike character in man. E. M. G.

13. The central principle of the Christian system is, The personality of the Being who, as its founder, gave Christianity its name—that Being who is unlike every other being within the whole scope of our knowledge; who is God, who is man; the manifestation of divinity; the restorer of humanity; the world’s Creator, and the world’s Redeemer; the author of life, the conqueror of death; the royal Head of an everlasting kingdom, and the meek pattern of patience under shame and suffering; the Son of God and the Son of Mary; having a glory with the Supreme before the worlds were made, yet born of a woman and laid in a manger; tasting death upon the cross, dying once, but dying no more for ever; living once, and alive for ever, the Head, the Saviour, the Lord, the Life, the King of the human race. This is the Being who forms the radiant center of the Christian system. Here have we a complete organism, and Christ is the very heart and life of it. Many things are revealed for our belief and practice, but they all proceed from and return to Jesus Christ, to find and prove their complete unity in his immortal personality. There is not a truth, not a fact in the universe, which is not related to this centrality in Christ. The importance of every truth and every fact is to be measured by its nearness or remoteness as related to him who is the sum of the whole. W. A.

14. The institutions and gifts conferred upon the Christian Church are represented as established and conferred for the very purpose of training, disciplining, and developing the Christian man; and one of the ends to be answered by this is, that, being no longer a child, liable to be influenced by others—to hear arguments which he can not answer, and to have doubts insinuated which he can not repel—he will be in no danger of being the sport of every “wind of doctrine,” or of falling under the influence either of erroneous or immoral teachers. T. B.

15. “Speaking the truth” is a most inadequate rendering. It is the whole being, not the tongue alone, that is treated of. A.—Let us “follow truth in love,” and, of the two, indeed, be contented rather to miss a speculative truth than to part with love. When we would convince men of any error by the strength of truth, let us withal pour the sweet balm of love upon their heads. Truth and love are two of the most powerful things in the world, and when they both go together they can not easily be withstood. The golden beams of truth and the silken cords of love, twisted together, will draw men on with a sweet violence, whether they will or no. Cudworth.

Everything in us daily must grow up into him who is the Head. Everything must be done with reference to him, nor is there anything so small or unimportant which may not bear its proportionate shade of sweet coloring drawn from him. The daily conquests of our temper; the daily patience, meekness, charity of spirit and of action; the daily gentlenesses, kindnesses, forbearances, forgivenesses of life; the daily experiments and practices of faith; the daily services of grace in prayer; the daily lookings to Christ, like the flower that follows the sun; the daily submissions of everything to him; the daily effort to find him, and to grow in his knowledge and love; the daily feeding on a portion of his Word; the

A little daily reading of the Word; a little fixed, earnest thought; short but frequent and fervent prayer; the weekly rest, with its break and pause stilling the noise and whirl of the week; the Sabbath solemnities and the Sabbath leisure, with their larger opportunities for spiritual culture—these are the things which, being constantly and conscientiously used, will keep the realities that are unseen before the eye of reason through the clear shining of the light of faith, and at the same time will give to them a calm and steady supremacy over the affections of the heart. This is the life of God in the soul of man, and this is the way, or one of the ways, by which men may retain and increase it by living habitually near to God. He who thus lives is led “in the paths of righteousness”; he runs, wrestles, resists, pursues, as the case may be, or the call come; but, though often fatigued, and sometimes faint, he is never disheartened, for he always finds that “as his day is, so is his strength,” or so at least are his means and opportunities of renewing it. Constant wear is met and counteracted by constant watchfulness; weekly exhaustion by Sabbath refreshments. The sanctuary at times unveils again, and gives power to what the world may have wellnigh hidden. The closet lets in glimpses of the sky, which frees the soul from the attractions of earth, by detecting afresh its impositions and falsehoods. And so it comes to pass that, in spite of oscillations and slips and falls, the progress of the soul is steadily onward. T. B.

16. Throughout the New Testament the system of the Church is assumed to be such as to call forth the gift of every member, no matter of what order it might be; and the active coöperation of each one is enjoined to promote the edification of all. Here “every joint” is to supply somewhat, “every part” to perform its “effectual working”; and by this means the body is to increase, “edifying itself” in love. No system can be made to accord with this passage, any more than with the general spirit of the New Testament, wherein the pulpit is the sole provision for instruction, admonition, and exhortation; the great bulk of the members of the Church being merely recipients, each living a stranger to the spiritual concerns of the others, and no “effectual working” of every joint and every part for mutual strengthening being looked for. Arthur.

Maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Christ is here presented as the one to whom the whole development must tend; the aim of all is to grow up into true fellowship with him, to receive him wholly into themselves, to become full of him. He is equally the one from whom the whole growth up into him can alone proceed; from whom issue all the vital energies; from whom alone all the members can receive life and direction. The Christian should ever bear in mind that our various necessities, and the means of supplying them, are distributed in varying modes and proportions through the different members, in order to keep them in a state of mutual dependence and reciprocal influence. N.

This body grows up and edifies itself in love. All the members receive spirits from the same Head, and are useful and serviceable one to another, and to the whole body. Thus these brethren, receiving of the same Spirit from their head Christ, are most strongly bent to the good one of another. If there be but a thorn in the foot, the back boweth, the head stoops down, the eyes look, the hands reach to it, and endeavor its help and ease. In a word, all the members partake of the good and evil one of another. Now, by how much this body is more spiritual and lively, so much the stronger must the union and love of the parts of it be each to other. L.

17. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gen- 18 tiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of 19 their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work 20 all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have 21 heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concern- 22 ing the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after 24 God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak 25 every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and

27 sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil. Let 28 him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing 29 which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication 30 proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may 30 minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are 31 sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, 32 and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

THE rejection of light tends to strengthen the power of sin. It decreases the restraining and remedial power of conscience; it kills the sense of danger and even adds hopefulness to sin; it destroys any influence which the beauty and glory of truth could put forth; in short, it removes those checks from prudence, from the moral powers, and from the character of God which retard the career of sin. Closely connected with this blinding power of sin is another law of character—that sin tends to benumb and root out the sensibilities; by which process again, its power over the soul is anew increased. That such a law does exist, we may almost assume; it is acknowledged, and its workings are seen on every hand. It is seen in the acquired cruelty of men of blood; in the horrible want of pity of the miser; in that deadness to conscience, produced by long sinning; in the disregard of rights which the prodigal manifests; in the extinction of the family affections; in the destruction, almost complete, of the religious sense of the blasphemer. And this view of sin shows it in its true light as a perverter of nature; an overturner of all those particular traits, the union of which under love to God makes the harmony and beauty of the soul. Sin tends to destroy even those qualities which in a brute awaken our deep interest, and to put into their place a lead-colored monotonous selfishness, which is not properly human nature, but its wreck and overthrow. Oh! when selfishness, from being an instinct, becomes a law, a reign, a tyranny over the soul, when this corruption has absorbed and assimilated to itself all the feelings and affections, must not the power of sin be greatly augmented? T. D. W.

17. If the Ephesians were sitting in heavenly places as respects nearness and access to God in Christ, that privilege ought to induce a holy and consistent walk on the earth. It would ill become them, it ill becomes any one to glory in celestial privilege, unless there be an honest endeavor to purify the terrestrial life. Before their conversion, the Ephesians had walked according to the course of this world. After it, they are bound to walk worthy of their new calling; and this is explained further by the expressions—walking not as other Gentiles walk, walking in love, walking as children of light, walking circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. D. F.

18. The consciousness of God is exactly what was lost in transgression, and nothing was left, of course, but the little, defiled consciousness of ourselves, in which we are all contriving how to get some particles of good, or pleasure, or pride, or passion, that will comfort us. We do not know God any more; we only know ourselves. We have the eyes and the ears that were given us, but we are too blind to see, too deaf to hear—“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindness of our heart.” H. B.—God begins with the heart. The teaching of his Spirit prepares the heart to see, and then the mind is taught to see, through the heart. God hath shined in our hearts. He must begin there, because there, and not in the mind, is the seat of darkness and evil. Therefore the great Physician of the soul, whose omniscience discerns not the mere symptoms, but the seat of the disease, goes directly to the heart. There the teaching of God’s Spirit produces this spiritual discernment, which is sharpened and increased just in proportion as a right state of the affections is produced and made permanent. G. B. C.

19. Past feeling. The Holy Spirit, glorious and joyful truth, does find a way into souls that are steeped in spiritual lethargy, does beget anew the sense of holy things that appeared to be faded almost away. But, when the very faculty that makes his working possible is quite closed up, or so nearly closed that no living receptivity is left for him to work in, when the soul has no fit room, or function, to receive his inspiring motions, more than an ossified heart to let the life-power play its action, then, manifestly, nothing is to be hoped for longer from his quickening visitations. H. B.—In the eternal world no one can be indifferent, no one shall be insensible. The world of darkness will be a world of feeling. There shall be weeping there. Not tears of penitence, but tears of despair. The worm shall never die. There will be a fire unquenchable in every sinner’s heart that will burn like a seventimes-heated furnace. Conscience will be fearfully busy there—pointing to the visions of a Saviour offered and a Saviour despised—recalling mercies once condemned, and precious invitations trampled under foot. That smothered conscience will rise again. It will awake to new life on that dread morn when the archangel’s trump shall sound. It will be alive with an intensity of torment on that day when the “books are opened”; and it will live amid the agonies of perdition never again to become PAST FEELING! T. L. C.

21. As the truth is in Jesus.** We often, indeed, hear it asserted that “Christianity is a life, and not a creed”; that it is “devotion to a Person, not adhesion to a dogma.” False antithesis appears to be, in these days, a most popular form of fallacy; and in this language we encounter it full-grown. Christianity is a life governed and molded by a creed; a creed which gives motives and energy to a life. It is devotion to a person who is manifested through a doctrinal medium; who can not, without such a medium, be recognized, loved, or worshiped, as he has revealed himself, and as he is. This is the heart of the whole matter. Dogma [or doctrine] is our expression of the truth as it is in Jesus; of that truth which can indeed make us free, because it is the substance of the words of a divine Redeemer. Men may speak and feel heartily about the character of Christ; but they can not accept the Christ of the gospels, and then be consistent in disowning a dogmatic religion. They must choose between a doctrinal Christianity and no true Christianity at all. They must have a creed, or they must go without a Christ. Bright.

By indifference to doctrine altogether, and representing the whole care for doctrine as narrow-mindedness and bigotry, the battle of infidelity against true religion has been fought in every age. Doctrine, indeed, is commonly the first point of attack; and in the attack upon doctrine, the more inward parts of religion, such as faith and holiness, are often made use of as points of advantage, on which the batteries against doctrine may be planted. But, in truth, the attack is against religion altogether; and faith and holiness themselves, and all the structure of religion, inward and outward, shortly disappear, when the assault upon doctrine has by any willful heart, with whatever pretext, been made successfully; not to say that it is commonly because faith and holiness are themselves in decay within that the assault on doctrine is thought of. Moberly.

Creeds are due to ourselves, that we may honor the blessed God by open profession of faith; due to ourselves, that we may be fortified in the faith by that obligation which open profession lays upon us. They are also due to others whom we desire to draw to us, that we may approach them with our principles pinned upon our breast; due to others who deny our faith, that we may warn them of their errors, and exhibit the truth upon which we seriously believe the salvation of their soul depends. Chamberlain.—The value of the creeds to the Christian world can not be overestimated. They are a bond of union as to belief in “the first principles of the oracles of God.” They form a short statement of truths necessary to salvation which even children can learn. They are an index to the faith of the

New Testament, bearing the sanction of seventeen centuries of learning, practical wisdom, and saintly piety; words which we may safely carry with us from our childhood to the grave as a guide to the knowledge of God and of the kingdom of heaven. Blunt.—The Apostle’s Creed is most wisely concise and simple; and yet, as a skeleton of New Testament theology, full and complete. It expresses no man’s opinion; it gives no man’s explanation. It simply records the facts of our religion, without either accounting for them or deskiing in what particular manner they shall be held. Account for the facts as you may, explain them as you will, draw what inferences from them you like—these are the facts; and “they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.” As all Christians believe these facts, it would be a notable sign of the fundamental unity of the Church, if every congregation throughout the world would stand up and declare aloud, before God, before angels, before all men, and before devils, their personal faith in this ancient, comprehensive, and precious creed. Pulsford.

22. For “concerning the former conversation,” which conveys very little meaning to the English reader, substitute “as concerneth your former way of life.” A.—The gospel sets before us the pattern of the new man, of man as God created him to be, of man as restored in Christ to a true and holy life. Such we are required to become by putting off that type of selfish, sinning man which is as old as Adam, by retrieving the spirit of the mind from its long subjection to the propensities and passions of the flesh, and putting on the new Adam, the true type of man, whose characteristics are a childlike obedience to God, an unselfish regard for others, a self-sacrificing devotion to truth, duty, and love. This is a renewal “in the spirit of the mind,” a radical change in its objects of thought, in its aims and desires, in the bent and purpose of living. J. P. T.

24. Sanctification is moral transformation, and is altogether different from justification, which is only a change of legal condition. At regeneration the Christian begins to lead a new life—a better, but not a sinless, life. Though a new nature has, so to speak, been grafted upon the soul, the old nature is not dead. The fruits of sin and the fruits of the Spirit hang side by side. Sanctification is a gradual change of character; it is a putting off of the old man, which is “corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts,” and a putting on of “the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” F. L. P.—The Master wants, not simply better conduct, but a solid, new man—so, new husbands, wives, children, citizens; new kindness, truthfulness, honor, honesty, beauty. This new man is to be put on; man after God even as Christ was when he came in God’s love to take us on his soul that we may take him on our soul and be covered in by the new investiture of his life; that sighing we may sigh with him, dying die with him, rising rise with him, carrying up all our once low affections to sit with him where he sitteth, at the right hand of God. All which he figures in the parable of the great king’s wedding-feast; where the guests are called by sending round to each, for his card of invitation, a caftan, or splendid wedding-robe. Putting on this robe, the guests are to come in, and, by this found upon them, are to be admitted and have their places assigned. H. B.

Is created. There must come down a Divine leaven into the mass of human nature before this new being can be evolved in any one. There must be a gift of God. A Divine energy must be the source and fountain of all holy and of all Godlike life. Christ comes, comes to make you and me live again as we never lived before; like possessors of God’s love; live tenanted and ruled by a divine Spirit; live with affections in our hearts which we never could kindle there; live with purposes in our souls which we never could put there. If redemption be the giving of life from God, and if redemption be the change of position in reference to God’s love and God’s law as well, neither of these two changes can a man effect for himself. You can not gather up and reissue the past life. The sin remains, the guilt remains. The inevitable law of God will go on its crashing way in spite of all penitence, in spite of all reformation, in spite of all desires after newness of life. There is but one Being that can make a change in our position in regard to God, and there is but one Being that can make the change by which man shall become a new creature. A. M.

There has been too much in the popular representations of the gospel, as if its principal design was to save men from hell, and that, if that was secured, they might be happy and content. It is to do that certainly, but it aims at doing far more. It is to save from wrath; but, in addition to that, it is to unite to God, and to make men like Him. Pardon, justification, the blessedness thence resulting—these are not ultimate ends; they exhaust not the Divine purpose. They are only means to a further end, a sublimer result—the production of a subjective sanctity, and, through that, of that deeper and higher blessedness which flows from a new birth unto righteousness; a resurrection from the death of sin into the life of God; the being “created anew unto good works.” Redemption, incarnation, a divine Mediator, sacrifice, intercession, the mission of the Comforter, with all other correlative truths, seem to be the most natural things imaginable, when it is understood that the grand, ultimate object is to recover man from the pollutions of the flesh and the power of the devil, and to make him a partaker at once of the holiness and the blessedness of God. T. B.

25. Truth with his neighbor.** It needs but a coarse, dull sense of right and wrong to abstain from telling lies, while it belongs to a very sensitive, delicate conscience to shun the numberless by-paths of false appearances and false pretenses which meet one on all sides and are very pleasant to walk in. The finish of the character, in regard to truthfulness, is one of the noblest attainments of Christian manhood, and it is as difficult as perfection is in any other department. To make any progress in this direction, we must have a clear view of the field; we must form an idea of what it is to be an Israelite indeed without guile; we must perceive how insinuating in some of its forms untruthfulness is, and how blessed the height—if we can reach it—where our whole soul shall breathe the air of truth, and of nothing but truth. T. D. W.

26. The prohibitions and restraints of Christianity are laid upon the malevolent and selfish passions—as anger, malice, envy, revenge, of the first, and vanity, pride, and ambition, of the second. These, with the exception of anger, it absolutely prohibits; and it prohibits that, so far as it is malevolent. It distinguishes between the holy indignation which must be excited by wickedness and any mere personal feeling or desire to inflict pain for its own sake; and hence it speaks of Christ as looking on men “with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,” and it commands us to “be angry and sin not.” M. H.

27. Those who indulge fretful feelings, either of anxiety or irritation, know not what an opening they thereby give to the devil in their hearts. “Fret not thyself,” says the psalmist, “else shalt thou be moved to do evil.” And in entire harmony with this warning of the elder Scriptures is this precept of Paul against undue indulgence of anger: “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.” Peace is the sentinel of the soul, which keeps the heart and mind of the Christian through Christ Jesus. So long as this sentinel is on guard and doing his duty, the castle of the soul is kept secure. But let the sentinel be removed, and the way is opened immediately for an attack upon the fortress. And our spiritual foes are vigilant, however much we may sleep. E. M. G.—Though the suggestion of evil is attributed to Satan, by Peter’s question to Ananias (Acts 5: 3), yet the question is addressed to Ananias. This intimates that he could have closed the door of his heart against it if he would. Give not place to the devil; and wanting “place” given by yourself, he has no foothold to strike any blow. Arnot.

28. The desire of property Christianity regulates wisely. Recognizing the inadequacy of property to meet the wants of a spiritual being, it prohibits covetousness as idolatry, and exhorts the rich not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living

God. At the same time it forbids indolence, requiring industry and frugality; and, when property is acquired, it commands us to be “ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” He that stole is to steal no more, but is to labor, working with his hands, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Thus would Christianity transform every lazy, thievish pest of society into an industrious, useful, and liberal man. Its exhortations would all lead men to works of general beneficence—to give to him that needeth, whoever he may be—and would thus cause money to become a means of spiritual culture to him who has it, as well as a blessing to him to whom it is given. M. H.

29. As we avoid the evil of the tongue, so we should commune one with another more frequently and fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet and grateful apprehension of the benefits of God, and especially of that greatest benefit to man, the gift of his dear Son Jesus Christ—the light of the world, the refuge of the lost, the Priest, Prophet, and King of our profession. T. M.

30. The work of the Spirit in man is not only as real and important as the work of Christ for him, but it is as much required to keep alive as to make alive—to preserve the life as to impart it. The Holy Spirit has not only to visit the soul, he has to “dwell” in it, to “abide” with it, to make the heart his home, the body his temple. If he be “grieved” or offended, if he withdraw or depart, the spiritual life droops and languishes; just as all nature would do if the sun were to be protractedly eclipsed; just as the earth would suffer if the heavens withheld the dew and the rain. T. B.—That Spirit that sometimes does illuminate, teach, and instruct them, can keep silence, can cause darkness, can withdraw itself, and suffer the soul to sin more and more; and this last is the very judgment of judgments. Bun.—Take heed, respect the great Person you have in your company, who lodges within you, the Holy Spirit. Grieve him not, for it will turn to your own grief if you do; for all your comfort is in his hand and flows from him. L.—It is to grieve him, when you stop his blessed work in you; when you will not let Him deepen and widen the impression of his seal. He grieves over your unmarked hours and days and weeks, because he knows that the time which is unmarked by you is marked by your enemy; that when you sleep, then your enemy is most busy. He grieves over the weakness that will not be made strong, over the carelessness which will not be made thoughtful.

He grieves over this, because he sees to what end it is hastening. But if he grieves over our manifold faults and weaknesses, it will be a joy to him no less if we follow his guidance and love his comfort; it will be a joy to him, so he permits us to speak, if we suffer him to finish his work, and to make his seal every year more visible on us; and if it be a joy to him, his joy will be our infinite blessing; his finished work is our life eternal. T. A.

31. Of all things that are to be met with here on earth, there is nothing which can give such continual, such cutting, such useless pain as an undisciplined temper. The touching and sensitive temper, which takes offense at a word; the irritable temper, which finds offense in everything whether intended or not; the violent temper, which breaks through all bounds of reason when once roused; the jealous or sullen temper, which wears a cloud on the face all day, and never utters a word of complaint; the discontented temper, brooding over its own wrongs; the severe temper, which always looks at the worst side of whatever is done; the willful temper, which overrides every scruple to gratify a whim—what an amount of pain have these caused in the hearts of men, if we could but sum up their results! How many a soul have they stirred to evil impulses; how many a prayer have they stifled; how many an emotion of true affection have they turned to bitterness! How hard they sometimes make all duties! How painful they make all daily life! How they kill the sweetest and warmest of domestic charities! Ill temper is a sin requiring long and careful discipline. Long after you have seen the duty of controlling it, you will find your control of it very imperfect. God gives some victories speedily; this victory he rarely gives till after many battles. F. T.

32. Two very distinct Greek words are translated by the single, very beautiful English word, forgiveness. One signifies merely a letting go, a release of charges, an exemption from punishment, the merely negative good of not being held in condemnation; a word accurately translated here and there by the word “remission.” The other signifies the very positive and operative matter of sacrifice and suffering to gain the heart of an adversary; that which not merely lets go, but prepares men to be let go. Literally this word means “to bestow grace.” Thus here we may read: “Dealing grace one toward another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath dealt grace toward you.” H. B.