and purest objects of faith and knowledge. The fields of thought and contemplation here can never be exhausted. The gospel's combinations of wisdom and power, of law and love, of righteousness and mercy, have from the first occupied angels in heaven and devout souls on earth. Yet there are heights to be scaled and depths to be fathomed, passing all conception. The more that we contemplate Christ now, and commune with Him, the more shall we be constrained to exclaim, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

II. In addition to what has been said, there is another thought on this subject which deserves consideration,-the relation of Christ Jesus generally to all human studies. In Him the mind finds its truest stimulus and healthiest impulse to all study. He is the Fosterer and Guide of all wise pursuits of the human intellect. It is in countries where He is known and worshipped that literature and science reach their highest triumphs, and exercise their widest sway. The gospel of Christ gives a new and living interest to all departments of knowledge, and throws a new and heavenly light on all the intellectual pursuits of men. Its influence is manifested in various ways.

Christ emancipates the mind, sets it free from the bondage of corruption and fear. The soul in union with Him is under the power of a light which dissipates moral ignorance, quickens thought, purifies emotion, and stimulates the mind to soar through the universe in quest of wisdom. Nothing effects for the soul of man in this respect what the knowledge of Christ Jesus can do. Moreover, He ever encourages inquiry and investigation. All the works of God are open to earnest scrutiny. Truth in one department of study can never have anything to fear from truth in another. Christ is the grand Harmonizer of all the lessons of truth for men. In Him it meets its author, source, and centre. Christian

teachers have at times been jealous or afraid of the discoveries of science; but religion and true science cannot be in opposition. The religion of the Son of God has never been a hinderer but a helper of all truth. How many nations will have to say, The missionaries of Christ "opened to us the intellectual treasuries of all literature and science, and made it possible to have a literature and science of our own." Science makes the surest progress, and knowledge bears the richest fruits, where Christ's name is known and His glory shines. As the Wisdom of God, He hallows and elevates all wisdom. If we investigate nature, does it make no difference to our study whether we examine the phenomena of a world without a God, or for which the Deity does not care; or of a world which God has made the theatre of redemption and the object of His special interest? If we study the human mind, will it make no difference to our investigation whether we view that mind as an orphan in the mighty throng of being, without a father and without a home, to be extinguished like a taper by death; or view it as the "candle of the Lord," the offspring of the infinite Father, who has sought its welfare at a most wondrous cost, and who means it as a living temple for His own indwelling? If we examine the anatomy of the human frame, will it make no difference to us whether we consider it as so much matter destined to rot in the grave; or as the vehicle or tabernacle of an immaterial spirit, and destined to be restored in a new and imperishable form? Who does not see that the light which Christ conveys at once enhances, elevates, and hallows every branch of knowledge which can properly occupy the intellect of man? The gospel tells the natural philosopher that he is dealing with the facts and phenomena of a world which God

The Superhuman Origin of the Bible. By Henry Rogers, Congregational Lecture for 1873, p. 325.

has chosen as the scene of a most momentous moral conquest, and of the grandest display of His truth and love. It tells the mental philosopher, that he is occupied in tracing the laws of thought and feeling of a soul which God has formed as a special sphere of His grace and manifested glory. It tells the moral [philosopher, that he is studying propensities, relations and faculties which are under the moral government of the Almighty, and are fitted for harmony with the moralities of heaven-an issue attained only through Christ as the wisdom and power of God. How rich then and fertile the truth that in Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

The word hid implies that they are stored up in Him, as it were in an hidden manner, suggesting the ideas both of concealment and development, or the capability of discovery. All the treasures that are in Christ are not seen at once, either by the bodily or the spiritual eye. It is true that the preaching of the gospel is the preaching of the "unsearchable riches of Christ," and men are freely invited to a participation of this treasure, that they may be enriched thereby. Yet to how many who hear the gospel is Christ still as a root out of a dry ground, possessing neither form nor comeliness. They discern no beauty in Him why they should desire Him; His treasures are hid from the thoughtless and unbelieving world, hid from the vain and unassisted intellect of man, for "no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Had "the princes of this world" known "the hidden wisdom," the treasures in Christ, St. Paul declares "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. ii. 8). But God has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes. Just as many, with uneducated eye, traverse a country rich in mines and mineral wealth, and have no idea of what lies under the surface, so the treasures that are hid in Christ are

only seen by the eye of faith, and found by the devout and contrite soul taught by the Spirit of God.

But these treasures, though thus hid, are intended for discovery and appropriation. They are not so hid as not to be reached. They are gradually unfolded to the believer; the more he investigates, ponders, and prays, the more does he behold of the boundless wealth and wondrous glory of the Son of God. There are riches in Him to quicken the intellect, purify the conscience, and solace the heart of humanity at large, and to glorify it for evermore. The number of those who are enriched by the treasures in Him daily increases. Yet are they still inexhaustible, and the oldest disciples are ever finding some new beauty, or discovering some new vein of preciousness or mine of wealth. in their glorious Lord. Throughout eternity the song of redemption will be ever new, and saints and angels gaining fresh glimpses of His glory, will ever celebrate the praises of Him who in heaven

"Shines and reigns the Incarnate God."

If all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are thus in Christ, then living union to Him is the Divine way to wisdom for us to that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation. He will be made of God "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," to all who put their trust in Him.

XVI.

The Beauty of Church Order and Stability.

"And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ."-COLOSSIANS ii. 4, 5.

IN the opening words of the fourth verse," This I say," the Apostle refers to what he had said in the previous verses, -his earnest conflict on their behalf, his desire for their comfort in the full assurance of the truth, and his declaration regarding the glory of Christ the grand personal depositary of all wisdom and knowledge. The verses now before us are mainly personal to the Apostle and those to whom he was writing. They contain an apostolic caution, and a personal consideration as the ground of it.

should

The caution is in the words, "This I say, lest any one beguile you with enticing words." He thus gives a reason for saying what he had done. He was extremely anxious that their views of the gospel might be kept right, that they should not be led astray by false doctrines, that they should not be tossed about by every wind of speculation or error, but continue stedfast in the faith. How widely different is such anxiety from the latitudinarianism which proudly proclaims its indifference to all doctrinal truth, and flippantly scorns all dogma. Wherever the truth of the gospel is held and