one;

for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." By joining the Church to Himself He became an honourable part of the body.

2. There is a union of influence. The head plans and contrives for the support, the protection, and the whole welfare of the body; and also guides and conducts it onward in its course. Without the head the body would be a dead mass of inactive members, unconscious in itself, and useless to others. Christ, as the Head, communicates all necessary influence as from Himself to His members; not only the influence of common gifts, but also of spiritual life and motion. He plans, He guides, He protects-without Him the Church would be as useless as a natural corpse without a head. The peculiarity of His headship over the Church is forcibly expressed in the text. He is the Head over all things. Having all power and dominion in His hand, He is placed above all in heaven, earth, and hell; principality and power, might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in the world to come, are under His control. The power which He exercises over those is the power of a supreme King and Judge. They are put "under His feet," so that none can act nor move except by His authority and permission; and observe the expression, “and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body." They are under His command to be subservient to her interest and progress. Things in heaven are to be enlisted into her service. The angels are Christ's honourable subjects-the nobles in His kingdom; but the Church is His dear spouse that lies in His bosom, so they are intended for her service. As the nobles in a prince's court regard it a preferment and honour to wait upon his queen, so the glorious angels account it no dishonour to them to serve the saints. St. Paul tells us they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." It is an office for which they are appointed, and in which they delight. Not only are the angels serviceable to the Church, but also all other things shall tend to further her

welfare. All the circumstances of Providence, and all the elements of nature shall be made to co-operate for the same end. Summer and winter, cold and heat, fire and water, wind and vapour, shall not withhold their aid to promote the present advancement and future happiness of that body which is so closely connected to the Head.

3. There is a union of sympathy. The head feels with the body; if even the most insignificant and remotest member suffer, the head is affected. There is a system of nerves running throughout the whole of the body which excites a chord of sympathy between the several members, but more especially between the body and the head. There is also a system of principles running throughout the whole Church which connect every portion of it together, convey a throb of fellowfeeling in the case of pain, or of happiness, and this feeling is conveyed especially to Christ the Head. There is another view in which the case may be taken; the head means the chief of anything; the chief of man is the mind, and we all know how the mind sympathizes with the body. Pain in any part of the body is immediately reciprocated by the mind, so that it becomes dejected and sorrowful from the effect produced by the suffering. Christ is the Mind or the Chief of the Church, who enters fully into the sufferings of all its members. "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Yes, He is touched as the head and the mind are touched with the sufferings of the body. Our Lord, now in heaven, exercises a tender and compassionate spirit towards His suffering children upon earth. He has an experimental knowledge of what His people suffer either from God or from man, for He has suffered all Himself, and He is interested in them, He is concerned for them, He is related to them, as being one of them.

We observe

It is

III. The high dignity conferred upon the Church by virtue of the union between it and Christ its Head. made "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Yet, the

Church is not the fulness of Christ personally, but of Christ mystically, not the fulness of His natural, but of His mystical body. In this latter respect every saint, and every degree of grace in a saint is part of the fulness of Christ. The fulness of everything constitutes its excellency. The fulness of corn in the ear, the fulness of fruit on the tree, the fulness of precious substance in the pearl, is the excellency of the ear, the tree, and the pearl. So the Divine, the incomprehensible fulness of Christ constitutes His excellency above all others." It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." Fulness of wisdom to direct, fulness of power to defend, fulness of worth to satisfy God's justice and to merit man's salvation; fulness of righteousness to justify, fulness of holiness to sanctify, fulness of mercy to pardon, fulness of supplies to meet every want. All this fulness is communicated to the Church. As the wife partakes of the estate of her husband, so does the Lamb's bride partake of all His riches. "All things are ours, for we are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

The idea of the apostle is, that though Christ fills all in all, yet He is not complete without His perfected Church; or that the Church as a body consisting of all its members is the consummation of His fulness. His relative and declarative fulness in the perfection of its proportionate excellency is to be seen only in the connexion which exists between Him and His people. In them He manifests the fulness of His love, of His grace, of His righteousness, of His merits, of His sufficiency to save to the uttermost all that come to God through Him. In them His effectual working is exhibited as a full and perfect Redeemer. In them He attains to the great object of His Mediatorship. In them is manifested His infinite power in subduing the evil propensities of the human heart, and destroying the works of the devil. In them His wisdom is displayed in carrying out all the purposes of Divine love comprehended in a covenant of grace. And in them all His perfections will be for ever magnified in the presence of angels both in heaven and hell. Should one

member of His body be wanting, His fulness would not be complete. There would be a gem deficient in the crown of glory-a chord wanting in the harp of praise. "The fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

This mystical union between Christ and the Church is full of wonders. There consists in it a complication of interests, as well as a communication of influences. As the head and the body, or as the husband and wife have their united interests, so Christ and His Church are mutually concerned for each other. They stand and fall, live and die together. Whatever He has is theirs, they have nothing but through Him-they have all things in Him and by Him, His God is their God, His Father is their Father, His blood-His merits -His Spirit-His life-His death are theirs. All that He did, and is doing, was and is done as the Church's representative He obeyed as her Head-He died as her HeadHe rose and ascended as her Head-He reigns as her Head, and has in her name taken possession of heaven as a purchased inheritance for her. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift! May we feel that we are members incorporate of His highly privileged Church, that we may share of the "fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

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The Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity.

MORNING SERVICE.-Second Lesson: Luke xiv.

Verse 23.-" And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."

OUR Saviour was of a sociable disposition, He delighted in the society of men, and whether He was invited by a Pharisee or a Publican, He did not disdain to go. He went to neither for the pleasure of gratifying His appetite, but for the opportunity of conversing with them, and of doing them good. These seasons of social intercourse He improved for the benefit of His fellow-guests. Not only did He manifest His wisdom by the instructive lessons which He taught, but He also manifested His power by the wonderful miracles which He wrought on those occasions; thus He rewarded all classes for their hospitable entertainments. When He went to a chief of the Publicans He brought salvation into his house; when he went to a chief of the Pharisees He exercised His healing virtue in his house. They entertained Him with the supplies of nature, He entertained them with the supplies of grace. The Publicans and sinners were directed to the Physician who could meet their case as those who were sick; the Pharisees and lawyers were directed to that which was lawful, whether it corresponded with their self-righteous prejudices or not. The motives of those persons were not always good when they invited Christ to be their guest. The rules of hospitality were often violated by the Pharisees in making their tables a snare to catch Him, hoping that they might hear something from Him, or see something in Him for which they might accuse Him; but His conduct was above blame: