they are forgiven and safe, and thus enjoy grace for a season; but they have no intelligent apprehension of the power and grace and glory of Christ, so that their faith without root in Him dies, and they are left in darkness and doubt. Every power of our manhood should be rooted in Christthe intellect in the truth as it is in Him, the heart in His love, the conscience in the peace which He alone bringsour whole being spread forth towards Him and in Him, so that there shall be the stability of a tree, unmoved by the boisterous wind or the raging storm.

But this does not mean that there shall be no progress. On the contrary, the spirit of progress is essential to walking in Christ. The man who walks advances; the tree that is firmly rooted grows; the building, after its foundation has been laid, rises to completion. Both metaphors really imply progress as well as stability. The tree cannot grow, whose root is continually being moved; nor can the building successfully rise when the foundation is shaky and insecure. The participle built is the present, and suggests the idea of an edifice continually uprising. So in the Christian's walk, grace after grace becomes brighter, truth after truth is seen more clearly, and “holiness unto the Lord" more richly and impressively adorns the character. The process is secured by a living faith; and progress is further suggested by the words " abounding therein." While the faith, as the gospel or doctrine of Christ objectively considered, is fixed, and its unchangeableness is the very element of our stedfastness, our faith in it, subjectively considered, admits of increase as a rising building, stone added to stone, until the top stone is brought forth

* περισσεύοντες έναυτη. On the authority of some of the oldest MSS. Tregelles omits évaury, in it, and so connects TeρioσevoνTES with ¿v eixapioria = abounding in thanksgiving.

with shoutings of "grace unto it."

Thus we are to grow in grace and abound in faith, from every new trial deriving fresh accessions of strength and hope.

Moveover the spirit of the Christian's walk is a spirit of thanksgiving. No man has such ground and cause for gratitude as the disciple of the Lord Jesus. What are all the wealth and honours of the world to the riches of grace and hope, liberty and glory, which he has in Christ? He can never think of his living Saviour, or his future home, or the curse and bondage which he has escaped, without finding motive for thankfulness. Thanksgiving becomes him in every stage of his spiritual experience, and every step of his pilgrimage; and the spirit of gratitude will make his soul buoyant as he advances, will lighten his footsteps, and cheer his pathway. When he thinks of the blessings he has received, of those which he actually enjoys, and of those which he hopes to attain-of the source whence they come, and the way in which they come, he cannot but be thankful. "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." "By Him

therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually; that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name."

XVIII.

Christ's Fulness, and our Fulness in Him.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power."-COLOSSIANS ii. 8-10.

HE best way to expose and counteract error is doubtless to proclaim and promulge the truth. In this way the consciences and understandings of men are most likely to be reached without exciting their prejudices or provoking their opposition. This method St. Paul adopts in this epistle. He had declared the truth about Christ in the glory of His person and the grandeur of His redemptive work, before proceeding to deal with the special and specious errors to which the Christian believers at Colossæ were exposed. He advances more directly to this point in the verses which we have now to consider, and begins by earnest and affectionate warning, rather than by an overt attack. Whether he had any particular leader or teacher of heresy in view when he wrote these words, it is impossible for us now to determine, but we can gather some general ideas of the nature of the errors which were propounded. The expressions which the Apostle uses show his strong feeling in the

case, and that he regarded their entanglement by false philosophy as dangerous to their piety and peace.

In these verses we have an exhortation and an argument; but instead of taking up the Apostle's line of thought in this way, we may get at his meaning equally well, and with more applicability to ourselves, by considering some propositions which his language suggests.

I. All knowledge for the soul's true welfare must be after Christ. It should centre in Him, and flow forth from Him. Its inspiration and its power must be found in Him. Knowledge that is not after Christ, so far as the life and spiritual needs of the soul are concerned, is really valueless. "Beware," says St. Paul, "lest any man spoil you through philosophy and rain deceit." We are not of course to suppose that he condemns all philosophy, and denounces it as dangerous. Certainly not. The Apostle knew very well that a true philosophy or science, useful and elevating to man, was to be found in the study of the works of God, and in the processes and laws of the human mind; and he would not utter a word against such studies either as means of mental development or as ministers of material comfort. He speaks of a philosophy which arrogated to itself a religious character, and claimed to be essential to the gospel of Christ, as a necessary modification or explanation of it. It was an attempt to amend or modify revelation, to add to it by speculative theories, or to show its harmony with philosophical systems. This attempt would ally itself at one time with tradition, by giving to the interpretations of fallible men an authority co-ordinate with Holy Scripture; and at another time with the obsolete system of Judaism, by reviving its rites," and insisting on their observance as necessary to salvation. All such philosophy was" vain deceit " or delusive error. It was not so much, however, what is now designated philosophy as theosophy, a Divine wisdom, a

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pretended knowledge of God derived from Divine or inward illumination. A combination of the oriental system of Zoroaster with Judaism would be sufficient to account for the erroneous teaching referred to in this epistle, and traces of such a mixture are found in Jewish writings before the time of Christ. From certain expressions in this chapter, as new moon and sabbath (ver. 16), we are not left in doubt regarding the class of religionists to which the false teachers. belonged. They were Jews, but Christian Jews, filled with the so-called philosophy of their day; and Phrygia was a region where such notions as they entertained, about the Divine nature and the knowledge of God, were especially prevalent. But their system, whatever it then included, was an incipient Gnosticism, which afterwards grew and branched out into many forms of heresy. As a whole, it was after the tradition or teaching of men, and after the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ. Its character was sufficient for its condemnation as utterly inadequate for the spiritual necessities of the human soul. The Apostle speaks of it as of human origin, coming exclusively from the thoughts and minds of men, and as of carnal character, dealing in worldly elements, and appealing to carnal principles. The one phrase, tradition of men, may refer to systems and theories of man's devising, the result of his own elaboration or thought; and the other, the rudiments of the world, or worldly elements, may point to ritualistic observances, carnal, secular, and deceitful in their character and influence. Any philosophy or science for man's soul, after the one or the other, and not after Christ, or according to His mind and teaching, was only a vain deceit fitted to entangle and injure our highest nature, and to cheat man of the highest good which is his true portion. The great doctrine of the Apostle is, that all true knowledge for the soul must be after Christ, or according to Him. That which professes