heavens declare His glory, and that the things which He hath made in creation around us proclaim His eternal power and godhead. But the light of the knowledge of the Divine. glory is specially and pre-eminently seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

"God in the person of His Son

Hath all His noblest works outdone."

His goodness and grace, His power and His wisdom, His law and His love, His righteousness and His mercy, His justice and His wrath, are all most fully and impressively seen in the cross on which the Lord Jesus died for men. It is the true revelation of God. Nor less, secondly, are the riches of the glory of the gospel seen in its effect on man. Here its wealth abounds; for it is the wisdom and the power of God unto our salvation. It is that alone in which provision is made for the regeneration of the soul, for casting out evil from man, for moulding him anew after the Divine image, and for meetening him for the blessedness of heaven, of which it gives the only sure and certain hope. Truly there is a wealth of glory in that which weans a human heart from sin, turns a sinner into a saint, and an heir of wrath into a child of light and an heir of heaven; which changes the whole current of a man's history, and gives him a new and glorious destiny. This is what the gospel does for every man who humbly and heartily receives it. Under its beneficent operation by the Spirit of God, old things pass away, and all things become new. As embodied in Christ Jesus, it is the only means to rescue and new-create the soul covered with impurity and guilt. The riches of its glory in this respect have been found by the mighty multitude now before the throne of God and the Lamb, and they are daily experienced by the growing throng on the way to heaven. But its glory is manifested only to those souls in whom by faith and love the

risen Saviour is enthroned. This is the sentiment of St. Paul in his words to the Corinthians: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." The Apostle seems to lay much stress on the extent of the Divine purpose: "What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you (Colossians and Gentiles), the hope of glory." This purpose of God was world-wide; it embraced in the arms of its mercy and grace humanity at large, without the distinction of class, claim, or circumstance. Yet the gospel never appeared with so much splendour as when preached to the Gentiles, revealing the overflowing tide of God's love and compassion. The Jews were especially the children of promise, and the Gentiles the children of mercy; but now in Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free; all are children of God. The love of the Father of all could not be limited to one nation; it extends in the riches of its glory to all the world. The mystery of the gospel begins and ends in Christ, and Christ is in every believer the hope of glory.

This mystery has been revealed to us, so that we know something of the wealth and glory of its wonderful disclosures. The shadows which from sin have gathered around the soul are dissipated, and the light of the Father's countenance shines upon us. Thus the very face of nature becomes changed to us; death no longer is the king of terrors, and the future to which we hasten is not any more an abyss of uncertainty and gloom, but a home of love, purity and felicity, where perfection shall crown us, and glory encircle us, and happiness possess us for ever. What wealth, then, for

1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.

men can equal the riches of the glory of this mystery ? What possession can equal the hope which the gospel brings of "an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory"? And for ourselves let it never be forgotten that the indwelling Christ, not any dream of fancied security, not any happy frame of religious feeling, not any thought of our own goodness, not any transient or even strong wish on our part of being saved, nor faith in any mere doctrine how true soever, but the indwelling Saviour, is our assurance of heaven. Christ in us, ruling, guiding, sanctifying, controlling us, is our hope.

XIII.

The Spirit and Power of an Evangelical

Ministry.

"Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily."-COLOSSIANS i. 28, 29.

OW different are the ideas which prevail of preachers

Hand of preaching, as well as of the themes which are

regarded as suitable for the preacher's presentation and treatment. Many, indeed, in our day tell us that the preacher's place is not only in danger, but is virtually gone; that the pulpit has largely given way to the press, and must to a still greater extent do so. Yet there are more preachers now than there were ever in the world before; and although sometimes the inanity or insipidity of the pulpit may bring it under the contempt of the world's would-be philosophers, yet while human nature continues constituted as it is, the preacher's function will never cease. Humanity needs it, and in a sense craves for it. The proclamation and exposition of truth by the living voice, backed by the eloquence of the beaming eye, will never cease to have a place and a power among men. As the great Head of the Church, who has given us His revelation in a book, has also given us preachers, both are necessary and important in His moral economy and the

arrangements of His Church, and the one form of instruction does not supersede the other.

In these verses we have the personal theme, the spirit, the end and the secret of the power of a true evangelical ministry, as St. Paul understood it, and as he himself exhibited it. Thus more particularly does the Apostle describe the features of that ministry in which he found his highest delight and the loftiest exercise of his powers. Consider

I. The personal theme of the Apostle's preaching: "Whom we preach," that is, of course, Christ Jesus. He was the personal, living, and constant subject of St. Paul's ministry. It was not the doctrines or even the facts only about our Lord that the Apostle preached, but the Lord Himself. The phraseology is peculiar, but often used in the New Testament. Disciples of any great human philosopher or teacher are not said to preach their master, but the doctrines of their master. The doctrines of Plato or Zeno, of Zoroaster or Confucius, have no abiding connection with these men; they may be held and preached without any personal interest in their authors. Not so, however, the doctrines of Christianity. Jesus Christ Himself is "the mystery of godliness;" the "way, the truth, and the life;" the glory and strength of the religion of God for man. Hence the only true preaching of the gospel is the preaching of Christ. But what does this mean? In some sense even those who oppose Him, who reject His Godhead and misapprehend His mission, may believe in Him and preach Him. Mohammedans even acknowledge, in their own fashion, the mission of Jesus. How utterly different from anything of this kind is the preaching of Christ of which St. Paul speaks. It is not difficult to gather from his discourses and writings what he meant by it. They are full of Jesus Christ. The Saviour, as we may say, was both the logic and rhetoric of the Apostle: there is no argument, exhortation, or appeal, no promise or precept, of